Edinburgh Crimes
by DancingStar01
Summary: Connor and Lindsay are searchinig for a nice castle for their wedding. They end up at Blacknight Castle... Night Shadow Part 1 aired! C/L, S/J
1. Blood Thirst Ch 1

Title: Blood Thirst  
Author: Dancing Star  
Crossover: PSI Factor/ Sue Thomas FBEye  
Pairing: Connor / Lindsay, Jack/ Sue  
Rating: 16 (includes some less beautiful scenes)  
Category: AU, Crime, Romance  
Summaries: The private investigator Lindsay Donner is called to an unusual murder case. While the traces of the killer end in talk and after the police failed, Lindsay receives some help by the OSIR- agent Connor Doyle...  
Note: I own all rights to this story, but I don´t own the characters.

**Blood Thirst **

Edinburgh 2010,

Lindsay Donner hated these cases. For the third time in six weeks she was ordered to a crime scene, which was located in a back alley in the outer parts of the city of Edinburgh. When she had arrived some people from the local police were already there. Her colleague Peter had called her and asked her to come, too, because he thought this murder might be interesting for her. For six weeks, the police and Scotland Yard were looking for the killer. Because he didn´t leave any traces at the crime scene this case wasn´t easy. And when neither the police nor Scotland Yard made headway in their investigation, a less important Police Officer named Peter Axon decided to call his former colleague Lindsay and ask her for help. Lindsay earned her living as a private investigator. Sometimes it was a 24 hour job, but she liked it. She loved the thrill to find out the secrets of other people. It was like a game, when she had to follow a suspect person and had to find out if he or she lived a secret double life. A less pleasant moment in this profession was when one of her clients had asked her to find out if her husband had a mistress and when Lindsay showed her photos of her husband with a pretty brunette, the woman nearly took the whole detective agency apart in rage. When she was a child, she had learned early to deal with such people: Her father was an alcoholic and when he came home from the pub, he raged through the whole house. He often beat her mother, which was one reason why Lindsay left home when she was eighteen years old.  
Peter had already recognized Lindsay, when she had parked her car on the street and got out. She had to call for Peter, so he picked her up on the police tape. Lindsay didn´t own a police ID anymore so she could enter the crime scene only with his help.  
"What happened?", Lindsay wanted to know.  
"It's like the last two murders," he said and they walked through the dark alley. Some colleagues walked past them, but they hardly noticed. They were much too busy trying to protect the victim's body from the prying eyes of the public. It was autumn and the evenings were getting longer and colder. Many families lived in this neighborhood and so no one was on the road at this time. Lindsay thought this was a perfect opportunity for a murder. Every time she came to a crime scene, a cold shiver ran down her spine, because she always noticed an aching feeling in her stomach. Like a dark foreboding the murders crept in her dreams for the last six weeks. Sometimes she saw the victims and then woke up in a cold sweat. She was a former police officer and shouldn´t have problems with this sight. But for some reason it suddenly became a problem.  
They had to pass another tape, before they reached the corpse. A coroner was already busy to examine the dead woman for fingerprints.  
"Do we know who´s the woman?", Lindsay asked. The victim was dark-haired and very pretty. She wore a T-shirt with the logo of O'Malley's, a pub in the city center. Apparently she had just returned from work. Peter explained he had already called at O'Malley´s and his assumption was confirmed.  
"She still has her passport and wallet with 50 pounds in her bag. So it wasn´t a robbery."  
"Like the other two victims," Lindsay recalled. The victim was lying on stairs. Under the woman´s head, which was bedded on a sharp edge of the step, a pool of blood had formed. Lindsay assumed she had stumbled across something and when her head came too close to the stairs, she had died of severe injuries. Everything looked like an accident, if there wasn´t the knife in the hands of the women.  
"Does she have a stab wound?". Lindsay wanted to know.  
"Yes, on the back. She was stabbed from behind." Peter assumed the killer had fought with the victim and then shoved her down the stairs. There the woman had stumbled, her head had hit the stairs and before he disappeared, he had put the knife in her hand.  
While she listened to Peter, Lindsay noticed a tall, dark-haired man who spoke to some policemen. She had never seen him before, so he wasn´t an officer of Scotland Yard and Interpol.  
"Peter, who is that?", Lindsay asked.  
"As far as I know the OSIR sent him," he looked to the ground, because he knew exactly what this strange sound in Lindsay's voice meant, "Scotland Yard asked for help."  
"And they send us the OSIR?"  
"Well, if he can help us it´s okay," Peter said, "This is the third murder in four weeks. The people of Edinburgh begin to be afraid."  
From the corner of her eye, she noticed that the man came to her and Peter hastened to get away from her. He seemed to dislike the OSIR-man.  
"Good evening," he said to her, although he knew the evening wasn´t good at all, "Connor Doyle, OSIR."  
"I'm Lindsay Donner. Private investigator", she shook his hands politely," Why did they send you?"  
"I don´t know," he admitted, "Actually, the OSIR doesn´t deal with European murderers. Well, this case is something special... But why do they send you?" He seemed to wonder why a private investigator was staying at a crime scene.  
"It was a coincidence," she didn´t want to admit that Peter had asked her for help when he had told her the police had no idea about the mysterious murderer, "What do you know so far?"  
"Our murderer kills women between 25 and 45 years. The victims were murdered at intervals of two weeks and found in lonely alleys. The cause of death is always the same: a stab wound but the killer is trying to make it look like an accident. The murder weapon always remains at the crime scene and only contains the fingerprints of the victim. No one has ever seen the killer before, but experts suspect he´s a man between 25 and 40, living alone and perhaps he was abused by his mother in his childhood..."  
Lindsay had to admit this was a very accurate description of the killer.  
"I don´t believe you´re involved in these investigation only by chance," Connor said suddenly.  
"The police asked me for help. Did I say that?"  
"No... So, why did they ask you for help? One of your ex-colleagues told me, one year ago you worked with the police."  
"You´re quite curious," Lindsay stated. She watched how the medical examiner and one of her colleagues took the woman's body to a vehicle.  
"We should focus on the series of murders," he suggested, "Where can I reach you?"  
"Why would I want to work with you?"  
"You might need my help," Connor suspected and Lindsay's brow furrowed. Of course he noticed this and added: "I know you´re not allowed to enter crime scenes and although you have been asked to help in the investigation, you can´t access the pathology department of the police... I'm your ticket."  
Lindsay had to admit he was unfortunately right and so she decided to give in. Agent Doyle suggested to meet tomorrow morning at Lindsay´s detective agency and discuss the case. It was already two o´clock in the morning, in a few hours the night was over. And somehow he had the premonition they would need their sleep.

The next morning Agent Doyle showed up in time in her detective agency and Lindsay and her assistant Sue were watching him when he parked his car on the wrong side of the road and got out. A man who was walking his dog noticed this mistake and pointed out to him. A little amused, Lindsay and Sue watched how Connor now maneuvered his car in a parking space on other side of the street. He got out for the second time and came to the door with two cups of coffee.  
"He even brought you some coffee," Sue smiled and went back to her desk. She let Lindsay sitting alone on her desk, which was providing them the view of the street.  
The door opened and Connor came in. He introduced to Sue and regretted they couldn´t shake hands at the moment unfortunately and if she believed it or not, for a Canadian he could be really charming. Sue laughed and replied she didn´t believe Canadians were clumsy. Sue then sent him to the back of the office, where Lindsay's desk was.  
"I thought you almost need a bigger parking space," she joked and Connor handed her a cup of coffee.  
"What´s that?", she looked into the cup and found out it was Cappuchino.  
"I thought you´d like this. See this as an excuse."  
"For what?", she frowned.  
"Looks like as if you have handle me and my questions for some time. Scotland Yard called me this morning and told I´ll stay in Edinburgh, until the killings have been resolved. And so I thought, we should make friends before I´m killing your nerves. We Canadians are a little different than you as an Englishwoman." Connor had barely finished his speech when Lindsay walked past him. He watched her helplessly. Did he say something wrong?  
"What?," he asked her assistant, who had watched their conversation.  
"You called her an Englishwoman," Sue said incredulously, "She´s born in Scotland. Scottish people hate being called English."  
"I couldn´t have known that!", Connor defended himself.  
"She´ll calm down again," Sue predicted and took some files on her arm, "She isn´t used to share her cases with someone."  
Connor nodded. Sue couldn´t imagine how well he knew this feeling.

"You still haven´t told me why you were asked to help in the investigation...", Connor wanted to find out why the police had just asked a private investigator for help and that´s why he asked his question again. They walked hurriedly across a street to the police department.  
"Why do you think there is a reason?"  
"Because there are enough police officers and private investigators in Edinburgh. So, why you?"  
Lindsay stopped and wondered if she should tell him, but she decided he wouldn´t believe her. "I ask myself the same question: Why me?", she changed their topic, "There are hundreds of police officers who work in this case. Why do want to work with me?" Together they entered the elevator to the floor, which housed Peters Unit.  
"I have the feeling you are something special," he admitted, "You are, by far, more attractive than your colleagues in the police force."  
She rolled her eyes annoyed, because she wasn´t in the mood for games. She had once been so stupid and had become involved in a relationship with a colleague. This had cost her a job with the Edinburgh police. She didn´t want to repeat this mistake and wasn´t looking for the new love of her life.  
They reached the eighth floor and stepped out of the elevator. Lindsay went ahead, when they searched for Peter. "Do you have news for us?", Lindsay asked and sat on Peter's desk. He assumed they came because of the autopsy results and so he gave her a piece of paper. When she studied it, she heard Connor clearing his throat.  
"Oh, um, this is Connor Doyle, OSIR," she introduced him.  
"Hi," Connor reached for the policeman's hand, "You are Peter, right?"  
Peter wondered how he could know his name. He decided, however, that he didn´t care.  
While Peter was staring at the new colleague from Canada a bit angrily, Lindsay read the autopsy report. This didn´t include any specific news and she handed the letter to Connor. "It's nothing we don´t know," he said, after he had read it. The report confirmed that the victim was stabbed from behind with a knife. The depth of the stab wounds matched the weapon which was left by the killer and the experts thought the knife could have come from a slaughterhouse. The victim also had bruises on her wrists and neck, which indicated she had fought with her killer after the stabbing before the woman was finally pushed on the stairs, where she fell and hit the back of her head.  
"As it was expected, the killer hasn´t left traces at the crime scene," Peter said, when he saw Connor's face, "It was raining last night. He didn´t even leave a footprint."  
"We should leave," Connor decided he didn´t want to listen to Peter's anger any longer, "As far as I know the forensics check the apartment of the victim today." He thought they should go there, too.  
"Apartment?", Lindsay asked, "You mean flat."  
"No, I mean apartment", then he noticed, "Understand: You call if flat."  
"There is something else," Peter begun, "I was wondering if I should tell you, but this letter is for you." Peter handed Lindsay another sheet of paper, which was packed in a plastic bag. When Lindsay was reading the contents of the letter, she understood why. "He saw me at the crime scene... And he knows my name", suddenly she was freezing cold. Although the letter was addressed to the police, the subject was her name. The sender wrote she was a pretty woman and he was challenging her more or less, if she was smart enough to solve the case.  
"You're in danger," Peter said.  
"Business as usual," she protested and left. Connor was left behind at Peter´s desk. "I don´t like saying this but please keep an eye on her," Peter asked and Connor nodded. He made his way to the elevator, where Lindsay was waiting for him.

The killers´ third victim was called Charleene Beyers and lived alone in a small apartment about two blocks away from the crime scene. A dog was sitting in the corner of the kitchen and looked curiously at the visitors, after the police had broken up the door. The apartment smelled unpleasant: Obviously, the dog had peed on the floor after his owner didn´t returned yesterday night. "It's almost spooky here," Lindsay told a police officer. She remembered there were some parallels to the other two victims: Jennifer McFee and Alison Wilder lived alone, too, and had low-paying jobs in a laundry or as a toilet lady in a department store. Previously Alison Wilder was the oldest victim: While Jennifer McFee and Charleene Beyers were still in the mid twenties, Alison would have been 45 years old next month.  
"I hate those home visits," Connor agreed to her. They watched how some people from the forensic unit examined the apartment and tried to find some evidences, who pointed out that, besides the victim and her dog, a second person had been in the apartment. It took almost three hours and Connor and Lindsay had to wait so long. After the examination was over the lead detective shook his head.  
"This can´t be true!", Lindsay yelled angrily and left the apartment at the same time. She hastened to come to Connors car.  
"What are you doing?"  
"Take me to my office. I want to see my records and files", she replied, "The killer has challenged me and I don´t avoid challenges."

It was almost midnight when Lindsay was sitting alone in her office and studied the murder board. When she was working with the police she had grown accustomed to write her information on a big board. This type of sorting her data didn´t relieved her work, but it was a good feeling to have the facts right before her eyes.  
Only a small desk lamp dipped her office in warm light. Outside a terrible storm was ranging. The flashes bathed the half- darkness of the little office in a creepy kind of light, shadows danced across the walls and the thunder caused noises, which made the night sound like the end of the world.  
A slight burning pain near her eyes was back. Fatigue. She couldn´t even remember when she had slept well for the last time.  
A shaking on the door tore her out of her thoughts. "Sue?," she called out questioningly. She had sent her assistant home for hours. The front door opened by grinding. She was almost relieved when she saw Connor. He had exchanged his suit against casual leisurewear.  
"I'm sorry if I disturbed you," Connor apologized, placed two coffee cups on her desk and she thanked him. Then he strolled over to the window and looked out. On the other side of the street he saw a police car and a man with a hat sat in it. He recognized the driver of the car: it was Peter. After the arrival of the letter he had asked Connor to take care of Lindsay. Apparently he wanted to check that Connor also kept his word. Or he didn´t trust him. The latter was more likely, because Connor felt that Peter didn´t like him.  
"Peter is parking in front of your office," Connor said, pushing the gray blinds aside, "Did you have a crush on each other?" As if he had heard it, Peter's car suddenly began moving and drove off.  
"How do you know?", she tried not to sound shocked.  
"I read your old personnel file... Was he worth it, at least?"  
"It´s not your business." She knew she was right. One year ago she and Peter had a brief but intense affair and when her boss had found out, he had dismissed her. Lindsay still remembered how Captain Hendricks back then told her she could make it to Scotland Yard, if she hadn´t become involved with Peter. It was the day when Lindsay had left the department and had to look for another job. Because she was overqualified for a job in a supermarket, she called some security services. As a former police officer, she thought she may have good chances, but when she was invited to an interview she quickly realized that her potential new colleagues were only beer- drinking and tattooed muscle giants, which made fun about the petite woman with worse blonde jokes. Lindsay therefore decided to ask her grandfather for some cash and so he lent her a nice sum, with which she opened her detective agency. She was very pleased that the business was better than expected: Soon, she couldn´t handle the paperwork alone, and so she had to hire Sue. Sue was born in America, but she grew up in Edinburgh. She had a good heart and was always by her side. That Sue was deaf neither affected their friendship nor their cooperation: When Lindsay hired Sue she only had to buy a software which helped Sue during phone calls and represented the words of the caller on her computer. Because Sue was lip-reading perfectly, the daily work wasn´t a problem. Sue was a very capable assistant.  
"What are you doing?", Connor asked and went back to her desk. He saw some crime scene photos were spread out.  
"I´m checking a few pictures...", she answered truthfully, "Did you notice one and the same man showed up at all three crime scenes?"  
Connor shook his head. He picked up the magnifying glass, which lay on the desk, looking down at a man wearing fine pinstripe pants, a tuxedo and a top hat. His chubby face was framed by bushy sideburns.  
"Did he leave a costume party?", Connor asked but he didn´t mean it. Actually, he couldn´t believe none of the spectators had noticed this strange dressed man.  
"Maybe there´s a theater located in the vicinity of the third crime scene. People probably thought he was an actor", Lindsay suspected and when she said this, Connor seemed to have an idea. He walked around in her office, until he found a city map, which he spread on the desk then. With a highlighter pen he marked the first two crime scenes, then the third. Then he connected the dots to a triangle. But then Connor shook his head. "There is no theater either inside or outside of the triangle," he muttered. The neighborhood where the murders had taken place was a residential area with no special interest. The detective agency and the home of victim number three were also inside the triangle.  
"There is a butcher shop at Haymarket Street". Lindsay noticed.  
"Why do you mention that?", Connor was sure there were several shops in this street.  
"Jack is our killer."  
"Jack?"  
"We should have noticed earlier," Lindsay sighed, "I know who´s our killer. The answer is right under our noses", she handed him the crime scene photo," It's Jack. Jack the Ripper."  
"This is nonsense," he replied, "Jack the Ripper is dead," Connor said, a little incredulously. He didn´t know exactly when the most famous killer of Great Britain had passed away and it was absolutely impossible he killed all the women in Edinburgh. He also would have completely lost in the area, because Jack the Ripper once lived in London. "Maybe it's just a crazy madman who dresses up as Jack the Ripper and then murdered women."  
"The details are correct," she said, "Except for he´s totally wrong on the map… Jack the Ripper was known for disappearing in a short time form the crime scenes. Just like then, today a butcher shop is in the immediate vicinity of the crime scenes... He also writes letters. He doesn´t write to the police, but me." But why should he now be careless and risk to be seen?  
Connor led this thought also to an end and found it absurd. Now he already believed Jack the Ripper was the killer. It was impossible, almost ridiculous. "As far as I know Jack the Ripper was never caught. But if it makes you happy, we should check the butcher shop at Haymarket Street," he then added and Lindsay nodded.  
"Yes, that Jack was never caught makes me worry, too," she rubbed her aching head and decided to send him home now. "You should go," she said, "I'm tired and don´t feel well."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Pretty sure," she accompanied him to the door of her little detective agency and couldn´t wait to go home as soon as he had left. At home she would have a pizza and then sit down in the bathtub with a good book.  
Connor suddenly stopped in the doorway, blocking her path to the outside. "What about you?", he said, grinning at her cheekily.  
"What about me?", She wasn´t in the mood for his obvious flirt.  
"Your office is near the third crime scene. Maybe you're the murderer."  
"Idiot", with these words she shut the door right in front of his face.

As they had decided they wanted to see the butcher shop next morning. The little farm house smelled like death. The smell of frozen meat hung in the air, mingling with ferrous blood.  
Connor quickly walked to a fat man who hid his stomach behind a bloody butcher's apron. Lindsay thought he met all the clichés of a butcher and she jumped over a small trickle of blood that led across the floor to a drain.  
"I'm Connor Doyle, OSIR. This Lindsay Donner", he introduced them and in thought Lindsay added "Only a fool names himself first" to his speech. Finally Connor drew a picture of the well dressed man out of his jacket pocket and showed it to the butcher. "You have any idea who that is?"  
"I don´t know the guy," the man said when he continued with his work, "Never seen him before."  
"The knifes, which were found at the crime scenes, originate uniquely from a butcher shop. The last crime scene isn´t far away from this place."  
"And because my butcher shop is close to your crime scene, I'm automatically the killer?", he began yelling at them. From the corner of her eye Lindsay saw, how a poor, defenseless chicken was beheaded at the next table.  
"Nobody said this," Connor tried to mediate the conflict, "But we would appreciate your help very much. If you could at least tell us if any of your knife is missing or..."  
"OUT!", the man roared and swung the ax, which he used to portion a piece of meat, dangerously in the air.  
Connor and Lindsay had never been in such a hurry to complete a survey. "We can´t count on his cooperation," Lindsay said, while a heavy iron door shut behind them.  
"Either he is really angry that we dare to suspect him, or he has something to hide", Connor agreed, "We should send a surveillance unit. As soon as something strange is happening here, we´ll know." His phone rang and he pulled it out of his jacket pocket to answer the call. They remained together in front of his car, a Mini, and Lindsay was trying to find out if she could read in his face what the caller was saying.  
"Who was that?", she asked as soon as he had finished the phone call.  
"That was your colleague Peter," Connor said, "He told me the mayor has just given a press conference in which he placed a bounty of 100,000 pounds to the killer... Not a good idea, if you ask me." Connor thought this step as an act of desperation.  
"Why we are here?," he asked, although he knew the answer: Actually, they were only here because Lindsay thought her killer was Jack the Ripper. They didn´t have a solid proof. At least not yet.  
"Don´t you think that´s terrible?"  
"No. I've been too much worse places", he tried to make it sound like fun, but Lindsay wasn´t sure if it was really meant as a joke. She wanted to ask him what he meant, but she didn´t.

While they drove back to the police department Lindsay's cell phone rang. Connor, who drove the car, was trying to see who called, but he focused on the road. He still wasn´t accustomed to driving on the wrong side of the street.  
"It's Sue," she whispered to him before she answered the call. "Where are you?", Sue asked a little harshly. Normally Lindsay came to her detective agency every morning. Today it didn´t happen and Sue was worried. "We´ll talk to Peter," Lindsay apologized, "What's wrong?" She suspected Sue didn´t call for no reason.  
"Scotland Yard has called," her assistant said, "They want to know if you have a track because you haven´t reported every 24 hours... What can I say after whom we are looking for?", Sue wanted to know.  
"Tell them we're looking for Jack the Ripper", as Lindsay had said this there was silence in the line. She suspected the reason was that the deaf Sue had to read her words from her teletype writer, but the silence lasted too long. "Are you sure?... I mean... You want me to tell Scotland Yard we're looking for Jack the Ripper?"  
"Of course not", so she pulled back her decision. She told Sue that she and Connor would be back soon and until then she had to stay in the office.  
Sue nodded after she had turned off her phone. Previously she had always felt safe in the detective agency, but now she wasn´t comfortable with the idea of being alone here. Lindsay suggested that Jack the Ripper was running around out there and killed woman again. But how was that possible? After all, he was dead for at least a hundred years  
She registered a movement only in the corners of her eyes and she hastily grabbed some files. A dark-haired man had entered the detective agency and sat down on one of the waiting chairs near the front door.  
"Good day, can I help you?", Sue asked.  
"No," he looked up from the paper which he had chosen, "My brother told me I should meet him here." He peered through the empty office, "But it looks like as if he isn´t here."  
"And you´re looking for…?", Sue wondered if he possibly tried to find one of their clients. Then she was of course sworn to secrecy.  
"I'm looking for Connor Doyle."  
Sue's face lit up. "He and Lindsay will be back soon," she said, "I didn´t know Connor has a brother."  
"Well, half-brother," he corrected and got up so he was at an eye level with her.  
"I'm Sue."  
"And I'm Jack," he said and realized Sue was now staring at him wide-eyed. He asked her if everything was okay and she nodded. Finally, he couldn´t help it that he and the killer shared the same name.  
Jack waited in the detective agency until noon and when it was time for lunch, Sue wanted to leave the office. "I'm back in one hour. Then my lunch break is over," she told him, "If you want, I invite you for lunch."  
Jack agreed. He waited until Sue had looked the detective agency from the outside and accompanied her to Riker's Steak House, just around the corner.

Peter's call came in the evening, when Connor and Lindsay interviewed friends and family members of three previous victims and wanted to find out if the women had any enemies. Peter told them, the police had received another letter. Lindsay asked if she and Connor should come to the Department and Peter denied. This time the letter was more of a postcard and he read her the text. The content was intended for Lindsay and the killer, who signed with "J", asked if she might not want to get him. He also asked her if she needed an incentive to take on his game.  
"What´s wrong?", Lindsay wanted to know when she heard Peter sighing in the line.  
"There's an address on the postcard," he whispered, "We went there we found a fourth victim. She was killed in the same way as the three women before... Captain Hendricks decided to exclude you from the investigation and you should send us the OSIR guy if you see him next time."  
That´s why he whispered! So Captain Hendricks shouldn´t notice that Peter gave information to her, she said: "Peter, we shouldn´t call each other."  
Connor looked surprised, "Captain Hendricks doesn´t need to know you´re helping me." Then she hung up.  
"What's wrong?", Connor asked and she told him about the postcard.  
"I should have known, that we have nothing," she finally sighed.  
"He signed the postcard with "J ". That's quite something", Connor tried to cheer her up. Now he even believed the killer was Jack the Ripper!  
"There's something else that worries me," she admitted, "He´s murdering outside his cycle now... An unit has found another woman's body." Normally the murders took place every two weeks, usually on a Saturday. The third murder was only a few days ago.  
Connor offered he could drive her home. She gave him the address and a little later he stopped his Mini in front of her apartment.  
"Are you all right?", he asked and she nodded when she undid her seat belt. She wanted to rush to get to her apartment, but when she reached for the door, Connor began to talk again: "I've never been to Edinburgh," he said, "Tonight is Halloween."  
Lindsay wondered if he was trying to ask her on a date.  
"Surely you can show me some nice places..." he said and she was sure: He really asked her on a date.  
"I can´t. We work together", she said.  
"All right," he leaned on the steering wheel and Lindsay could see he still wasn´t used to sit on the right side of the car while driving, "At the risk you will be angry about my question I would like to know when you have slept for the last time. "  
"Six weeks ago," she admitted. Six weeks ago, the killings in Edinburgh had started.  
"You need someone to look after you," he said and sent her to her apartment. Lindsay looked at him confused, when he followed her. "Don´t worry," Connor grinned and on her doorstep he reached for the key, "I will behave and spend the night on your couch. You won´t even notice I'm there."  
"Don´t you have something better to do tonight?", she reminded him he had asked for a Halloween party earlier.  
"Well, my brother arrived in Edinburgh today," he had received a text message, after Jack had arrived at the airport, but since then he hadn´t heard from his brother. He was probably at the hotel or had found an alternative activity.  
"You invited your brother?", Lindsay asked incredulously and flicked a light switch. At that moment, she regretted she hadn´t cleaned up a bit but finally she didn´t want to take Conner to her home. She thought he was a good investigator and didn´t notice him from another point of view.  
"I wouldn´t say I invited him," he hung up their jackets and Lindsay watched how he then looked in her kitchen for glasses, "My little brother tends to invite himself. He´s an investment banker and if he thinks my case is taking too long, he comes to same city."  
"But you arrived a few days ago..."  
"Well, I guess it's because our parents died early and we both grew up with our grandparents, who also died, when we had finished high school."  
"I'm very sorry."  
"No problem." Meanwhile Connor had found glasses in her kitchen and two bottles of beer. He suggested Lindsay should sit down at the table where he poured her some of the drink and then lit a candle. "What are you doing?"  
"If you don´t want to go to a pub with me, the pub comes to us... But now it´s your turn. You still haven´t told me why you were chosen to solve this case", he sat down opposite her and leaned back in his chair.  
"You wouldn´t believe me."  
"Convince me otherwise."  
She had to smile, but she wondered if she should tell him. "Well... I'm sensitive. That means I sometimes see things which will happen in the future... Peter was probably hoping I could solve the case with my ability." She rolled her eyes amused as she spoke the last sentence.  
"That´s why you think Jack the Ripper is the killer," Connor concluded and she nodded, "Did this ever help?"  
"Once," she admitted, leaning on the table, "It was five months ago, when three children were kidnapped by their father. The children's mother was in court getting sole custody and the father couldn´t handle that. One night I saw the Father in my dream, as he and his children crossed the Swiss border in a shabby Fiat. I told of my former boss, who said I´m a spinner. But Peter did believe in me. So he gave out a Europe-wide investigation", she paused to give the necessary drama to her story, "They found the father with his children two days later in a black, stolen Fiat, built in 1991, on the border to Switzerland. "  
"Did you see anything this time again?"  
"I saw some letters… I knew, someday he´d send letters but I hoped it would remain as a dream," she sighed in disappointment, "Surely you are disappointed. I can imagine you might expect a real scandal, why they just asked for my help." She took a sip of beer and Connor leaned on the table, so he could look in her eyes. She had beautiful green eyes, he thought. Her long blond hair gleamed mysteriously in the candlelight.  
"You are more interesting than you think," he said, grinning. He wondered if he should go a step further and in that moment she put both hands on the table and leaned back. "Come, I'll take you to the door," she got up and Connor didn´t understand, "You should really leave."  
"Is it unpleasant to you that I am here? I promised Peter to take care of you and I will behave. Since the killer is behind you, I think it isn´t a good idea if I leave you alone."  
"That's not the point," she shook her head and wondered with what kind of excuse she could distract him, "Please go to the hotel and leave me alone. I'm not ready for that."  
She even took him to the front door of the building, which housed her apartment.  
"Is it because of Peter?," Connor asked and stopped in front of her in the doorway. Like last night in her office, he blocked her way today.  
"No, but... My job is like a fence that keeps all men away from me."  
"That's a stupid excuse," Connor said, leaning towards her. She wanted to avoid, but she didn´t make it, so he kissed her. Lindsay was horrified and wanted to push him away, but something stopped her. She melted away, although she didn´t want to. This wasn´t planned at all. Finally she made it to get some distance between them. "What are you thinking?", she raised her voice and was shivering at this moment when a group of costumed children, who played trick or treat, interrupted them. When the children saw Lindsay's expression, they decided to leave. Connor would now probably think she wasn´t just a Halloween muffle but also a children's horror. The next second, she wondered why she cared about the fact and the idea of a response germinated in her mind.  
"You're right: I'm going back to my hotel," Connor gave in and took a step back. Only now they both noticed the piece of paper, which was put half in Lindsay's mailbox and fluttered in the cold night wind. She unfolded the letter and Connor watched as her face was getting paler. She handed him the paper and he read it. The Killer "J" wrote her that she still wasn´t playing his game and he was very annoyed.  
"He knows where I live," Lindsay murmured, "How does he know?"  
"Probably he followed us," Connor folded the letter and turned around. Almost by accident, he discovered a figure in a long coat, standing under a street light, watching them. "There he is!," Lindsay cried, and she began to run as fast as her legs would allow. She had slipped almost on the wet stone stairs and Connor called out to her, she should wait for a while until he caught up with her. When they reached the gate, the dark figure also moved and ran away. The figure ran down the street and then turned into a narrow lane.  
"That's a dead end! We got him! ", Lindsay shouted to Connor, who had now caught up with her. The stranger had accessed the street, when suddenly the ground beneath Connors and Lindsay´s feet gave way and they fell into the depths together.  
Lindsay felt how her heart skipped beat when she plunged into the icy water. Connor showed up first and saw where they had ended up. Apparently, the grating of a sewer manhole had given way, so they were thrown into the sewer. A foul smell rose in Connors nose and he was quick to come as the banks, having taken Lindsay's hand. "It smells terrible," she complained, when he helped her to climb out of the water. In all the years in which she had been working with the police, she had never been in the sewers, but all the stories which were told about it, seemed to be true. She cried out when a rat climbed across on the rung of a ladder. "Now calm down," he told her and climbed ahead, up the ladder and they finally reached the street.  
On the road, they noticed they hadn´t gone far: They could see Connor's car which still parked in front of Lindsay's house. She was freezing in her wet clothes and was relieved she only lived a few meters away. However, the dark figure had vanished.  
"I´ll drive to the hotel," Connor said, looking for the car keys.  
"Do you think it´s a good idea to drive the new car in your wet clothes?", she had no idea how she could persuade him to stay otherwise. It was probably the dumbest excuse he had ever heard, but she hadn´t any better idea, because she feared "J" could come back. In addition she was sure Connor had a gun. As a former police officer Lindsay didn´t own a weapon anymore.  
"Don´t panic, it's just a rental car," Connor said, "I'm more worried about how I can remove this horrible stench from me."  
"Lemon," she replied, "We were are already taught during training." She remembered very well the day when she was sent for the first time to the pathology and she had seen a corpse. She had to spend the whole day in the basement of the police department and when she went home that night, she took a shower with a lemon for the first time in her life. Since then she had never again to use such a tool, but today was one of those days again.  
"Well, what do you thing?", she repeated her question, "You wanted to spend the evening with me. You will get it."  
"All right," Connor said and followed her to the house. Lindsay knew he had seen through her minutes ago.

Connor and his brother met each other for the first time the next morning, when Jack brought a coffee for Sue. "You're trying to endear yourself to Sue with coffee", Connor stated. Usually, that was his tactic and he had to admit it hadn´t previously worked with Lindsay.  
"Why didn´t you respond yesterday?", Jack asked.  
"I could ask you the same thing... Where have you been?"  
"I wanted to pick you up in the detective agency," Jack remembered that Connor had told him yesterday where he was, "I waited until lunch, but you didn´t show up... Then I asked Sue if she wanted to go out with me… Or better: She asked me."  
Judging from the face of his brother, Sue hadn´t rejected. Jack told him he liked Sue and she was a very admirable person.  
While the two talked, Sue and Lindsay were having a conversation on the other end of the office. "Yesterday I took off the afternoon spontaneously after you didn´t show up," Sue apologized. She had no afternoon appointments with clients and Lindsay also had her own key to her office.  
"And where have you been?"  
"Jack and I had lunch. Then I showed him some of the sights."  
"Sounds exciting," Lindsay rolled her eyes. Sue didn´t have many dates and the way she spoke of Jack, their relationship was something serious.  
"Be careful, you hear? In a few days he´ll fly back to Canada with his brother and you'll stay here. A little distance saves a lot of grief."  
"Is that the reason why you don´t let Connor in?... Too bad. After you two are wearing the same clothes as yesterday, I thought, there is something", Sue cheerfully said and now went to Jack. Lindsay assumed Sue didn´t care at all, that between her and Jack was an ocean. And how did she come up with the idea that Lindsay and Connor...?  
"Hey," Connor pulled her out of her thoughts and sat down beside her on the desk, "Is everything all right?"  
"Yes," she smiled and nodded glumly. Lindsay thanked him so much he had stayed with her yesterday. Once she woke up in the night and decided to convince herself that he also kept his word and took care of her. In fact, he sat on her couch and watched a concert on television. Lindsay decided to sit down with him for a while. "You probably can´t sleep, huh?", Connor grinned, when Lady Gaga sang her latest hit on television. For some reason she then remained the whole night sitting beside him and she was even more grateful he had stayed. When they had crawled out of the sewers, Lindsay had noted with horror that the door to her apartment was wide open the whole time. She didn´t want to imagine who could now hide in her apartment.  
"I'm fine," she assured him and noticed a phone ringing in the background.  
"Lindsay!", Sue suddenly exclaimed, "Scotland Yard is on the phone. They want to talk to you!"  
Lindsay picked up the phone on her desk and activated the speaker so Connor could follow the conversation. They talked to a certain Ted Ballard, who announced Scotland Yard had found a woman's body, but this time they also caught the killer.

Connor and Lindsay were quick to come to Scotland Yard headquarters. Connor said she was probably very annoyed she hadn´t caught "J". She had to admit this fact was almost true. "Believe me, or not, but I'm glad I´m not the one who caught him", she admitted. She didn´t want to imagine what could have happened if the killer and she would actually meat each other.  
Ted Ballard picked them up at the front door of the building and went with them to the basement. The prison of the building was located there and Ballard took them to a cell in which a pretty lousy, thin man in a fine pinstripe suit sat on the floor. He held a hat in his hand and wiggled his body back and forth, as if hypnotized. "We still don´t know who this is," Ballard told, "But we found him at the crime scene in the fifth body. He even held the knife in his hand."  
"Can we talk to him?", Connor asked. The man in the cell didn´t notice the visit.  
"He suffers from delusions. I don´t think he´ll tell us the truth", Ballard said and left them alone.  
"What´s wrong?", Connor wanted to know when he realized she was staring at the man in the cell.  
"He´s not the killer," she mumbled and looked at him. Ballard didn´t see that the man´s suit was at least two sizes too big. She hated the thought that "J" was still running around in the city and killed women and she needed a moment, until she realized her hope was destroyed again.

In the following two weeks, nothing happened. The newspapers didn´t report about new murders and apparently "J" no longer wanted to play with Lindsay, because he didn´t send her cards and letters. This frustrated her more than ever. Was the man who was shown to them by Ballard the real killer in the end? She didn´t believe. But she hoped Ballard was right.  
Even worse, she found the realization the OSIR ended Connors stay in Edinburgh, after no murder had happened in the last two weeks. The murders had something good she thought and felt guilty when she remembered the victims. The positive thing was she had met Connor. He showed the same enthusiasm for unexplained cases as she did. His brother Jack hadn´t left Edinburgh. Lindsay suspected he applied at the National Bank of Scotland for a job to be able to stay here. He did it because of Sue. Lindsay knew this and Sue knew it, too.  
"Will Jack pick you up today after work?", Lindsay wanted to know from her assistant and Sue nodded: "We want to have dinner," Sue told, "Come with us."  
"No, thank you. I won´t bother you", she didn´t want to be the odd one out.  
"Jack has organized a date for you...", Sue began.  
"Please don´t," a grouching sound merged with her voice.  
"You'll like him," Sue predicted and looked out the window. Jack's car was parked outside the building and he and another man got out. "They're here," Sue smiled.  
"Sue, I don´t want to bother you and Jack and I don´t want to date one of his friends. They probably talk all night about boring banking transactions..."  
"I don´t think Connor would do this."  
Did she hear right? Connor was back in town? She was petrified when he entered the office after Jack. Lindsay hurried to get up and smoothed her blond hair. Surely she looked terrible, she thought. "Hi. I thought I'd give you two weeks before I start disturbing you again", he apologized, "Just to clarify: I only visit my brother, who moved to Edinburgh because of your assistant. I'm here for personal reasons."  
She nodded in agreement, but then she grinned. "I should have been prepared better for your visit. I knew you'd come back."  
"How...?", But then it came to him. She had told him she sometimes saw things in her dreams that would happen in the future.  
Jack and Sue called to them from the doorway, they were still waiting for them. "I am very happy you're back. Let's go", Lindsay suggested and squeezed in his hand during passing. Maybe she would tell him later, when they were alone, how much she had missed him.  
Her ability hadn´t helped them to grab the killer "J", or at least the man who probably was the killer. The killings had just stopped as quickly as they had come. She pushed the unpleasant doubt aside that the man, caught by Scotland Yard, maybe wasn´t the killer.  
None of them knew of the dark figure, who watched them when they left the detective agency together...

To be continued (in February)


	2. Blood Thirst Ch 2

Title: Blood Thirst Chapter 2  
Author: Dancing Star  
Crossover: PSI Factor / Sue Thomas FBEye  
Pairing: Connor/ Lindsay, Jack/ Sue  
Rating: 16 (includes some less beautiful scenes)  
Category: AU, Crime, Romance  
Summary: Two months before the killer "J" has been taken by Scotland Yard. But suddenly, in the newspaper an obituary appears with Lindsay's name. Soon, Lindsay and her colleague Connor are sure that "J" is back...  
Note: I own all rights to this story. The characters aren´t mine, however. If the story sounds familiar: congratulations. You have found me. :-)

**Blood Thirst Chapter 2**

Edinburgh, December 2010

Two months ago, Scotland Yard had caught the killer, "J" in Edinburgh. Or at least the man they believed he was the killer. It was now December. Normality had returned to the city, while a glistening blanket of snow and a chilly wind brought the Christmas spirit to the people.  
In a small detective agency in a quiet outskirts of Edinburgh the most beautiful time of the year hadn´t found its way yet. Not even the window decoration and Sue´s baked cookies could change that. So Sue silently watched the bad mood which ruined her employer Lindsay´s days, actually since weeks.  
"I can´t focus," Lindsay complained and closed the folder, where she kept some surveillance photos. She hated this job: She should find out why Charlotte Carr, the richest woman in the city, suddenly moved in with her son, who led a quiet, down to earth life as a telephone technician. For days she was hard on her target persons heels (which was extremely uncomfortable with this freezing weather), she shot photos and made recordings with a hidden camera, but she got no further. She had been wondering if she should call the bank and ask for copies of bank statements. Maybe her target person was broke, she thought.  
"I hate this case," Lindsay then added and leaned back until she touched the back of her chair.  
"I'm sure that's not your problem," Sue explained dryly, "You miss him."  
Lindsay knew Sue was talking about Connor.  
"On a professional level," Lindsay said, but for a second, she wondered if that wasn´t a lie. She liked Connor. But unlike his brother, he didn´t move to the UK. They had met two months ago, when she needed help to catch the killer "J" and when the case was ended he had been sent back to Canada. Connor had left almost two weeks ago when he came back to visit his brother in Edinburgh. Of course, Lindsay had been pleased and that night she wanted to tell him how much she had missed him. For some reason she didn´t say a word and when his vacation was over two weeks later, he flew back home. Without knowing about Lindsay´s feelings. That was two months ago. Thereafter, they had talked on the phoned several times, but Lindsay was convinced she shouldn´t tell him this when he was thousands of miles away. She also had no idea what to say exactly. Should she ask him to come back to her, because she thought there was something special between them? What, if she was wrong and it was just a harmless crush? So she decided they would only be friends.  
About her thoughts she didn´t notice that the door was flung open and a person rushed in. "Sue?", a voice cried, "Is that true?" The man was holding a newspaper in his hand and showed it to her.  
Sue was so shocked when she saw the ad that she didn´t notice the visitor. "Don´t worry, Lindsay´s fine," Sue assured the man and tried to get the thrilled person from the entrance of the detective agency. When Lindsay heard her name, she looked up from her work.  
"Connor," she got up, "You're back?" Lindsay had no idea Connor was back in town and she was surprised when he hugged her stormy. "What a coincidence," she thought. She had just been thinking about him.  
"Are you okay?", Connor wanted to know and she nodded, although he still held her.  
"What do you mean?", she asked and now he showed her the newspaper of last Monday. Lindsay had no idea that he had subscribed the Scotsman, the local newspaper of the city, to read it in Canada. She was almost sick when she found a box that contained their name, date of birth and date of death between the obituaries.  
"When I saw this ad, I immediately came here," he hadn´t even found the time to call his brother to ask him how it could come to that.  
He handed the paper to Lindsay and watched as she studied the lines applied. Connor wondered why no one had noticed the ad, but probably neither Lindsay nor Sue and her friends in the police read the daily newspaper.  
"That's a pretty bad joke," Lindsay said.  
"I would also like to know who would to this," Connor agreed. He went to the door to get to Lindsay's jacket from a coat rack. Obviously, that was his way of proposing a short walk, even though it was freezing cold outside.  
Finally they left the detective agency together and walked down the street on the icy sidewalk.  
"Is this ad in the newspaper the only reason why you're here?", Lindsay wanted to know and she was relieved when Connor shook his head.  
"Actually no. A woman in Aberdeen has been murdered. She was strangled with a plastic bag. Actually I´m not allowed to tell you but yesterday a dead woman was found in a suburb of Edinburgh. She died in a similar way. I'm investigating the case..."  
"Why? What's so unusual? ", although she was glad he was here, she was surprised the OSIR had sent him. That people were murdered happened every day and around the world.  
"There´s no unusual case," Connor said, "But when I heard in the office they wanted to sent an agent to Scotland, I was wondering if I should take the case... And when I saw the obituary with your name in the Scotsman I couldn´t stay in Toronto." While he was talking his breath formed clouds in the cold air.  
"My goodness, It´s really cold," he stated and then put his hands into the pockets of his jacket.  
"I was expecting you're used to a certain cold from Canada... But you're right: this year it´s very cold." She decided not to tell him that a storm on the Atlantic Ocean was to blame.  
"What will you do now?", he asked.  
"I'll visit the publishing house of the Scotsman and ask about the client," she reassured him. Connor wanted to know if he should accompany her and because she knew he wouldn´t give in, she finally agreed. They entered a classic black cab.  
"I've never noticed before, you don´t own a car," Connor suddenly said when she reached for the seat belt.  
"For what? There´s a good bus network in town." And the taxi drivers were fair. Lindsay watched skeptically when Connor already in taxi called at the Scotsman and prepared the secretary for their arrival. He told the lady on the phone they wanted to see the bank statements from the past five days and the woman promised she´d prepare the documents. Connor thought that her willingness to help them only came because he told her they were with the OSIR.  
They arrived at the publishing house of the Scotsman after ten minutes and as it turned out, the lady from the phone had actually copied the bank statements for them and packed it in an envelope. Connor had actually thought they could check the papers here, but due to the upcoming Christmas holiday everybody was busy and so he and Lindsay decided to drive back to the detective agency.  
The examination of bank statements lasted although Sue's help until evening and then they weren´t smarter than before. "We checked the bank accounts of the Scotsman," Connor said, leaning back on the chair on which he sat, "The statements show that the author of the obituary must have paid cash." In addition, they had compared the owner of the sender accounts with the names in the ads and when there was no unexplained payment, the ad only could have been paid cash.  
"I talked to a certain Leslie of the administration," Sue told, after she had put the phone down, "She remembers a man who paid in cash and wanted to have an obituary." Unfortunately Leslie doesn´t know with what bill and coins the unknown man had paid. If they wanted to try to find fingerprints, they would have to investigate all the money that was in circulation in the Scotsman- building. They would, of course, only find evidences that the staff had handled the money and as soon as an outside person, for example an innocent cashier at Tesco, had touched a bill the fingerprints were on it. In addition they didn´t know for whose fingerprints they had to search.  
"Can Leslie of the administration remember how the man looked like?", Connor asked.  
"He was wearing a dark coat and he had sideburns."  
"Sideburns?", Connor and Lindsay asked simultaneously and Sue nodded. Her cell phone rang and she saw Jack's number on the display. She apologized for a moment to make a call to her boyfriend. Connor and Lindsay remained alone back at the desk.  
"Do you remember the plastic bag-murder?", he suddenly wanted to know and inwardly she wondered who masterminded such a stupid name like plastic bag-murder.  
"What´s wrong with that?", of course, he had told her about it briefly. This case was one of two reasons why he came back to the UK.  
"The killer left a knife at the crime scene after the second murder in Edinburgh. The fingerprints are missing. I thought it was just a coincidence, but now...", Connor said and Lindsay prayed that it wasn´t what she was thinking," The killer has left a message in the hands of his victim. The message is for you", Connor gave her a copy of a note.  
_"To Lindsay, I'm back. Your devoted J._ ", was written on a sheet of paper in cursive letters. Her throat was dry at once. "Where did you get that?", Lindsay asked, "And why didn´t you show me this earlier?"  
Connor apologized and told her he didn´t want to scare her unnecessarily. So that was their connection between the two cases.  
After Lindsay's former boss had dismissed her two months ago from the investigation, Lindsay almost expected she shouldn´t even know about that the killer was back. It occurred to her she now had to talk to Ted Ballard from Scotland Yard and tell him that the shabby hobo wasn´t the wanted killer "J". She was eager to see his stupid face.  
"I can´t tell you how I came to that copy."  
"Does Captain Hendricks also know?"  
"Yes," Connor nodded, "I assured him you´re not going to interfere in the case, but you should know about the message so that your safety is guaranteed."  
"We won´t keep away from that case, right?", she asked, hoping he would nod.  
In fact, he agreed. "We won´t and that wasn´t my intention from the start."

Because Connor had suggested he could be her ticket to the pathology like during their first collaboration, Lindsay decided to use this offer and so the next morning they went to the main building of the police. It was Christmas Eve and visiting the pathology was certainly not a nice job for the day.  
The forensic pathologist Dr. Cooper was waiting for them and after he had shown them the latest victim of "J", Lindsay and Connor were in a terrible hurry to get out of the pathology.  
"She looks badly bruised", Lindsay said when they entered the elevator.  
"I've seen worse," Connor replied and she looked surprised. Lindsay had never seen before, that a woman's eyes had been removed. When she and Connor had searched for "J" for the first time he tried to keep his murders look like accidents. His last victim died a horrible death.  
"You've told me before you saw worse things. Will you explain me what it means?"  
Connor now grinned, because she was so curious. "Okay. But it's not a nice story", he was aware she didn´t expect that, "Before I worked with OSIR, I was with the U.S. Navy. One day there was a terrible accident on the aircraft carrier on which I was based at: A man from ground control was caught in a rope and couldn´t free himself in time before the jet in front of him started its engines. Sometimes, in my nightmares... ", Connor paused and thought for a second, if he should continue to talk, "Sometimes I see the burned body of the man standing in front of me." He saw the soot-colored skin of the man and he reminded the acrid smell of fire, blood and burning flesh. One of his superiors back then even had to puke when he saw the injured man after the accident for the first time.  
"Did he survive?", Lindsay asked hesitantly.  
"No," Connor replied, "He died two days later. It was a cruel death."  
"That's terrible," Lindsay agreed and she immediately remembered the woman she had seen a few minutes earlier on Dr. Cooper table. Somehow it dawned to her that Connor also suspected her in near future on this table. "J" was back. This fact was more evident than ever.

After their visit to the pathology Lindsay wasn´t a little surprised when Connor returned to her detective agency late at night. His presence wasn´t to blame by the message she had received, but because he feared that "J" was trying to kill her and so she shouldn´t be alone. It was Christmas Eve and Lindsay had sent her assistant Sue home in the morning, even after she couldn´t endure Wham! and their Christmas hit on the radio. Probably Sue was sitting under a perfect Christmas tree at the moment with her boyfriend Jack in Jack's perfectly furnished apartment and he asked her if she wanted to move in with him. Or he gave her an engagement ring. In contrast, Lindsay didn´t even have the time to buy a Christmas tree (when she told Connor he had looked at her as if she had just committed a terrible crime) and she hadn´t even managed to decorate her home festively. It wasn´t that she didn´t like Christmas: She didn´t have time for it.  
More than ever, Lindsay hated the thought of being alone tonight. The cause wasn´t even the news that "J" had sent her, but something else.  
"Hi," Connor said and sat down on a chair in front of her desk, "Are you here alone?"  
She nodded and told him about her suspicion that Jack and Sue probably spent the evening together.  
"Will you tell me now I shouldn´t be alone in my office," she said casually, looking up from her computer. Her eyes hurt, because she was staring at the screen quite a long time. She was still working on her case in which she should find out why a millionaire had moved in with her son. So far, the secret video footage hadn´t revealed any news.  
Connor glanced at his watch, "It's late. Come, I invite you to dinner", he suddenly suggested and Lindsay wanted to protest, but he didn´t give her a chance. Watching the videotapes had to wait until tomorrow.  
They went outside to the parking lot where his rental car was. This time it wasn´t a Mini, she noted, but a Ford.  
"I´m sure driving a small Ford must be very strange for you because European cars are only half as powerful as the cars you're used to in Canada," Lindsay said and watched how he rolled his eyes. Indeed the European cars were smaller than the vehicles on the Northern American continent.  
"I feel very safe in this car," he promised her. They drove to a small snack bar near the Ocean Terminal. "I have heard here's the best hot dog in town," he told her when he noticed her sideway glance. When they received their food at the snack bar she told him, he shouldn´t eat Hot Dogs during a visit in the United Kingdom but Fish and Chips, but Connor ignored this comment. In addition, today was the twenty-fourth of December. In the UK families unwrapped Christmas gifts tonight, instead of waiting till tomorrow. Lindsay wondered if that wasn´t strange for him. Here, life proceeded in a different pace than in Canada.  
"Don´t you think it´s strange to spend the Christmas Eve with me?", she asked then. After all, his brother also lived in Edinburgh.  
"No, that's not weird. I only regret I can´t take you to a fancy restaurant tonight." The good and expensive places in town were closed for the bank holidays.  
Lindsay smiled and they ate in silence. Then they threw the packaging of their food in a trash can and decided to walk along the shore for a while. Only a few street lamps illuminated the dark promenade and an icy wind blew around them.  
"What would you think, if I stay in Edinburgh?", he suddenly asked. In the darkness a cargo ship passed by on the river Firth of Forth, the warning horn was heard even from here.  
"Do you really want that?"  
"It's a little late to ask this", he smiled and Lindsay didn´t know how she should interpret the grin on his face, "I applied for a job at Scotland Yard. And I got it."  
"That's great," she said impressed and hoped her admiration wasn´t too obvious. Suddenly it dawned on her. "That's how you've come to the copy of the message which "J "has sent to Scotland Yard."  
"Right."  
"Shouldn´t you then be at the Christmas party of Scotland Yard and get drunk with eggnog?", she asked, looking at him.  
"Well, I don´t think I want to spend the evening with this boring suit-makers, who are talking about the strategies how to snap criminals. I don´t even know them... "  
"This is why you should go," Lindsay said.  
"No. Perhaps another time", he noticed a grin on Lindsay's face. Obviously she wondered if he knew Christmas was only once a year.  
"Some of my new colleagues even told me the party is only for people who have no family and don´t know with whom to spend Christmas Eve... This doesn´t mean you´re just a nice distraction for me...", he tried to explain and Lindsay laughed. They stopped on a rusty railing that separated the waterfront from the icy water. The Royal Yacht Britannia was located ahead of them in the harbor.  
"Don´t worry, Connor. I didn´t expect I need to buy a Christmas gift for you." Since he was back in town, she hadn´t had time to worry about this. So they agreed they were both relieved to spend the evening with each other and they wouldn´t buy gifts. They stayed for an hour at Ocean Terminal then he drove Lindsay to her apartment.  
What she didn´t know was that he parked his car a few meters away from her house on the sidewalk to have an eye on the door.

The next morning Lindsay picked up Connor at his hotel. He had sent her a text message in the morning, just after six clock, and asked if she was still alive and if they wanted to meet in front of his hotel . When Lindsay replied he hurried to reach the "Scottish Palace", his hotel, and got something else to wear. Then it didn´t look like as if he had spent the night monitoring her house.  
"Why do we meet here?", Lindsay wanted to know when she was leaving the bus and he was just coming out of the hotel. He thought his timing was perfect. Nevertheless, he was a little disappointed she didn´t mention that beautiful Christmas Day.  
"This is the place where I live."  
"I thought you wanted to take a job at Scotland Yard... Seems like they´re paying you pretty good if you still live in a hotel," she remarked and Connor paused before he entered the driver's side of his rental car.  
"The apartment, which I will want to rent, is available on January 1st," he complained, "But I think it's very nice of you that you just offered to help me with moving."  
"And I'm going to give you a big portion of haggis as housewarming. I am... "  
"...Born in Scotland, I know," he finished the sentence and he found it was amusing they already knew what the other was going to say.  
They got together in Connors rental car. Before Connor started the engine, Lindsay's cell phone rang and when she took it out of the bag, she found it was a text message. The sender was a phone number, which wasn´t stored in her contacts. Nevertheless, she read the content: "_To Lindsay. I will find you. Your devoted J." _  
"Connor," she croaked and handed him the phone. He read the message and was just as perplexed as she was. The killer knew that Lindsay was involved in the investigation two months ago and he already knew where she lived. Now he had even found out her private cell phone number. And he knew her date of birth.  
"Do you know the sender's name?", he asked. When Lindsay shook her head, Connor decided to call back with her cell phone. He didn´t expect someone would reply: a monotone computer voice told him that the person he had called was currently not available. Connor wanted to write down the phone number and use the Scotland Yard database for finding out the owner. Of course he knew it was wrong to use the databases for personal reasons, but "J" was a dangerous killer who wasn´t only threatening Lindsay's life but already killed many innocent people.  
"You go immediately to your detective agency. I´ll care about this phone number", Connor told her and Lindsay wanted to disagree they had appointments today. But she gave in and decided to do what he said. Connor drove her to her detective agency then he called Sue and asked her to come there today. Because today was a bank holiday, Lindsay never would have called her assistant.  
After he dropped off Lindsay, Connor went to the Scotland Yard headquarters.

Connor returned from Scotland Yard in the evening and Lindsay asked him if he had news about the unknown phone number. All he had found out was that the mobile number was registered for the first time three months ago and the prepaid card was probably bought at a gas station in Glasgow.  
"So there is no good news," Sue said. Meanwhile, Lindsay had told her about the text message she had received this morning. Sue was worried but she wanted to cheer up Lindsay a little.  
"I know we have different problems, but we have a present for you," Sue told Lindsay, took her by the arm and led her through the office, "Yes, we didn´t want to buy gifts for Christmas this year but Connor and I have something for you. "  
Connor followed them and accompanied them to the hub room, where Lindsay discovered a Christmas tree on one of the filing cabinets. The tree was 30 centimeters tall, was decorated with tinsel, golden Christmas balls and a string of lights.  
"This is a Christmas tree," she noted, inwardly she admired herself for her phenomenal cognition.  
"When you told me you don´t have a tree at home, I thought you should at least have one in the office," Connor said and went back to the desk where Lindsay and Sue had looked at some photos. He left them in the doorway to the next room.  
"At least, this gift is better than the vegetable cutter which Peter has given you last Christmas," Sue whispered to her, before she went to Connor. Lindsay heard how Connor wanted to know from Sue what had become of their case, in which they should find out where why a rich lady suddenly moved in with her son. Sue said they had found out that the millionaire was actually broke and the case was closed.  
Connor then asked if they were dismissed for the day and if he should take Lindsay home. Sue had a date with Jack and so Connor didn´t want to spoil the evening of the two. Sue thanked him and left the detective agency.  
Shortly thereafter, Connor and Lindsay went to the door. Outside, it was snowing and the road was already covered by a thin and smooth layer of ice. "It's pretty cold," Lindsay stated and searched for gloves in her bag. She noticed her overflowing mailbox next to the front door of the detective agency. Some envelopes and advertising journals were put in the mailbox. Many envelopes showed her name as recipient, except for a letter. Lindsay didn´t know why but she had to open the envelope without any address first. She pulled out a Christmas card, Santa Claus was printed on the front. The card was very nice, a bit cheesy and Lindsay was eager to read the words of greeting.  
_"To Lindsay. I will find and kill you. J. "_  
"Oh God," she murmured and suddenly felt sick. She showed Connor the card, but he first reached for a pair of latex gloves, which he recently took in pathology. As he knew the killer they wouldn´t find any fingerprints, except for Lindsay's, on the envelope. Because the envelope contained no address, "J" had to put his mail personally in the mailbox of the detective agency.  
"Was the letter already here this morning?", Connor asked.  
"I don´t know. Before I picked you up at the hotel, I wasn´t here."  
They wondered if they could ask Sue and while Lindsay dialed Sue phone number, she thought about what if the killer had put the envelope in her mailbox while she was with her assistant at the detective agency. She was his next victim and that thought brought tears of fear in her eyes.  
"What shall we do?", she asked Connor tonelessly. He went back into the office and took a bag, in which they usually packed evidence and explained to her they should bring the bag with the envelope and the Christmas card to the police tomorrow so they could analyze the document. "Why don´t we go to the police now?"  
"Because we need to calm down first," he decided and opened the car door for her, so she got into the Ford, "If we´d report to Captain Hendricks and the rest of the police that "J" had placed you on his hit list in this state, he´ll send out of town immediately." Of course, Connor feared for Lindsay's life, but if they are now behaving unprofessionally, Captain Hendricks would exclude them from the investigation again.  
"I won´t leave you alone," Connor promised her when they were on the way to Lindsay´s apartment and they had to stop at a red light.  
She wondered if he tried to spend the night on her couch again, but he said no. After he had parked the car in front of her apartment, he handed her a black bag. "What shall I do with it?", Lindsay looked surprised.  
"That's my spare gun", usually he hid the gun under the passenger seat, "Take it. Have it in your home and carry it with you always. If you are attacked in your house and I'm not with you in time to help you, don´t hesitate and shoot... You ever held a gun in your hand, did you?"  
"Of course." Did he forget she had worked in the police force once? "Where will you be?", Lindsay thought he would stay in her vicinity.  
"I'll stay in the car," he decided, "If the killer now observes us, I'll drive around the block, get me a coffee and then I´ll park my car in the distance. He shall think you´re alone. If I see something unusual, I'll be right with you." Nevertheless, he advised her to put his phone number on a speed dial button on her phone. With an anxious feeling in her stomach Lindsay left Connors car and watched as the vehicle started to move slowly.

_When Lindsay opened her eyes, she realized she wasn´t in her apartment anymore but on a deserted aircraft carrier. It was night. The full moon in the starry sky was bathing the entire landing deck in bright light. Was it actually called landing deck? Lindsay didn´t know. _  
_"Is anyone here?", she asked, but no one answered. The many abandoned fighter jets looked like spooky ghosts and when Lindsay looked around, she discovered the name of the aircraft carrier on the wall of the tower. The ship was named USS Sacramento. _  
_"There's nobody here but us," a voice suddenly said from behind her and she turned around in a hurry. Lindsay horrified stopped breathing when a man in a banished, blue uniform and burned skin stood in front of her. Still, she could see a name tag on his collar: "Robert Jones, ground control" it said. A pungent stench rose in Lindsay's nose. _  
_"Who are you?", she knew the question was actually unnecessary, because she knew Connor's story, "What are you doing here?... You... you're dead." _  
_He stared at her with eyes almost sinister. The cool night breeze blew through a sparse hair which the fire had left on his head. _  
_"I'm here to warn you." _  
_"Of what?" _  
_"Nothing is as it seems," Robert Jones said and the dream began to disappear. _  
_"Why are you here to warn me?" _  
_"Nothing is as it seems." _  
Bathed in sweat, Lindsay woke up from her minutes of sleep and found out she was alone on her couch and the gun was still lying beside her.

Since four hours Connor sat in his car, which he had parked in well manageable distance to Lindsay's house on the other side of the sidewalk and watched the entrance of the building. Although the heating of the car was running at peak performance, his feet turned gradually into ice lumps and his fingers burned in pain.  
Connor grabbed a cup of hot coffee and he was glad that at least McDonald's was opened, where he bought the caffeine-containing drink and a cheeseburger before he began his supervision.  
He took a sip. So far the night had passed quietly, but it was difficult under such conditions to stay awake.  
At that moment his phone rang, he put down his coffee cup and answered the call when he saw Lindsay's landline number. "What´s up?", he asked, looking out the window.  
"Can I ask you a question?", A long pause ensued but then she spoke on, "The aircraft carrier on which you have served... Was it named USS Sacramento?"  
That he didn´t answer, showed she had hit the mark. "And the man, who died of the severe burns, was called Robert Jones, right?"  
"How do you know that?", he asked but he knew the answer. He knew she had never read his file and these details weren´t written down there and he had never told her. "Have you been dreaming about this?", he added quizzically.  
"Yes," Lindsay sighed, "Robert Jones was trying to warn me."  
"Of what?"  
"I don´t know. He didn´t tell me... And what's up with you? Have you seen anything unusual?"  
He glanced at the digital clock on the dashboard of his rental car. It was almost 1 o´clock in the morning. "No. It's all right.", Connor looked at the apartment building and found out that light was switched on in the first floor, where Lindsay´s apartment was located.  
"What about you?", he suspected she couldn´t sleep. His guess was confirmed when she said: "I think I'll take a sleeping pill."  
"Do you think that's wise?", Connor said and he heard her sigh again.  
"Okay, then I'll pass. But don´t complain if I have thick dark circles tomorrow. "  
Connor could only add a remark about his ice-feet before they said good night to each other.

Although Lindsay knew Connor had spent the night in his car outside her house and had an eye on her, she didn´t dare to sleep for even a second longer: She sat on the couch, watched the repeats of some American comedy series on television and drank lots of coffee. Connors weapon lay beside her the whole time. It was worse she had fallen asleep and met this terrible Robert Jones...  
Finally, it was morning and after breakfast Connor took her to the police building.  
"Wait, Here´s your gun," Lindsay said before she got out.  
"No, keep it. It's just my spare weapon", although he was tired, he winked at her cheerfully.  
"Won´t you come in and say a brief Hello to Peter?"  
"No," Connor replied, "I have the feeling he can´t stand me." Since he was back in Edinburgh, he haven´t had the opportunity (and he wasn´t in the mood, too) to meet Lindsay's ex-boyfriend.  
She got out and raised her hand in greeting, while Connor was driving to his hotel.  
Lindsay took the elevator to the floor where Peter worked. Along the way, she tried to hide Connors weapon under her winter jacket. Peter didn´t need to know that Connor had given her a gun and likewise he would hate the fact that Connor had an eye on her in the last few hours. She just hoped Peter wouldn´t ask her what she had done after she discovered the obvious threatening letter, because then she would have to tell him the truth.  
"_To Lindsay. I will find and kill you. J." _  
Of course the words weren´t less daunting today than yesterday, but after she had survived the previous night, she felt safer.  
On the way to Peter´s department she met Kathryn Talbot, a former colleague. She was impressed to see Kathryn was pregnant now and told her how happy her husband was and how much she looked forward to the child. Lindsay's former colleague talked and talked and when Kathryn told about her last ultrasound, Lindsay began to just nod and switched internally. Only when Kathryn Talbot left with the words "I'll see you after childbirth" and went into the elevator from which she had come 30 minutes ago, Lindsay breathed a sigh of relief.  
"Good morning," she greeted Peter. Lindsay sat down on a chair in front of his desk.  
"Hi... Heard your OSIR agent is back," Peter said, "I met him last night when he bought a sandwich."  
Lindsay took his comment with a head nod.  
"Are you here for the message of "J", Peter wanted to know worried and when he saw Lindsay's glace, he added, "Connor told me about it."  
"Yes, I wanted to ask you if you could investigate this card for fingerprints. I have found it in my mailbox yesterday. Maybe a graphologist could check the card and compare them with other writing samples", she handed him the Christmas card that Connor had packed in a plastic bag last night.  
"All right, I'll handle this," Peter gave in and Lindsay was relieved he otherwise didn´t ask questions.  
"It's Boxing Day. Why aren´t you with your family and eat lots of turkey?", she suddenly wanted to know and Peter looked up from his actual work.  
"No idea. My sister canceled our lunch", he shrugged his shoulders helplessly, "What about you? Where´s your OSIR agent now?" He pushed a folder aside.  
"At the hotel."  
"When will he fly back to Canada?"  
"Not at all... At least, not so fast," she said and was curious to see his reaction, "He took a job at Scotland Yard. You know, that means you´ll see him more often than you like."  
Peter grinned because Lindsay obviously would ask him to treat Connor like a friend. "In your interest, I hope you won´t be disappointed."  
"I hope so too," Lindsay nodded.  
"Do you know more about it than I do?", Peter leaned on the table, "Did you dream something?" He knew about her ability to see the future in her dreams.  
"Yes," she nodded slowly. When she said it, he knew her future would take place with Connor.  
"Why do women always have to talk about feelings constantly?", Peter sighed.  
"I should go," Lindsay said to him and got up. She thought it sounded strange but she suddenly knew what should be done today. Lindsay took the bus to the street where Connors hotel was located.  
Along the way, she wondered if she should tell him about her future vision, too. What would he think about her? That he was interest in her was obvious. To feel confirmed, she just had to remember how he had kissed her two months ago in her apartment. So she decided to make a clean sweep. This dream she had in recent occasions, got her to do so. It was a beautiful dream and she liked thinking about this rather than the one in which she met Robert Jones.

_The alarm clock played a happy song, when she woke up. Lindsay was in an apartment she had never seen before, but she felt at home from the start. The bed was bigger than usual, so she believed had moved and had bought beautiful furniture. Her blonde hair spread out like a generous waterfall over her back. This vision probably took place a few years in the future. _  
_Lindsay set her feet on the floor and went into the adjoining bathroom where she took off her clothes to take a shower. She remembered she had left her hair clip on the night stand so she wrapped her body in a towel and went back to her bedroom. Humming, she reached for the hair clip in order to subdue her blond hair ´when she returned to the bathroom. _  
_When she reached the door, she noticed a crackling noise and discovered the outline of a figure in the shower. Lindsay needed to see just who it was. So she pushed the curtain aside. _  
_"Connor?," she asked, her voice almost broke when he turned around to face her. _  
_"Did you expect anyone else?", he asked with a wink, grabbed her hand and pulled her under the water jet. Connor began to kiss her and her first reaction was to withdraw. She realized what was going to happen and she wanted to push him away but then she wrapped her arms around his body and he untied her towel until it finally fell to the ground. His hands moved little circles on the wet skin of her back. She moaned pleasantly, as he began to kiss her neck. _  
_Two hours later, she was alone in bed and snuggled into her blanket. The fabric still smelled of him and she smiled contentedly while he was shaving in the bathroom next door. The sun shone through the window, so she assumed it had to be a summer day. Now she noticed the ring on her finger. So they were married. "It's almost ten a.m.," she heard him saying, "We should hurry, because we have to pick up Logan!" _  
_"Who?", she murmured. _  
_"Logan. Our son. Did you forget him already?", he answered amused, "Don´t tell him that. This is not a nice welcome for someone who is coming back from the summer camp. " _  
_Lindsay realized the smile on her face was getting brighter. They even had a child. _  
_She wanted to get up and reach after her robe, when it was suddenly dark. And the next moment, the dream was over. _

The bus ride took about half an hour when she finally reached the small hotel. Even though she and Connor currently had different problems, she had now decided he should know about her future vision.  
"Good day," she said to a lady at the desk, "Would you please call Mr. Doyle and ask him to come into the lobby?... It´s important", she then added. It was early afternoon on Boxing Day and Connor should have a little time for her.  
The woman picked up the phone. "What´s Mr. Doyle´s room number?," she wanted to know from her colleague before she dialed.  
"Room 104," the man replied, "But he's gone half an hour ago. He has left his key."  
Lindsay nodded and searched for her cell phone when the reception lady offered her to wait in the lobby. Although the leather sofa looked very cozy, she politely refused when the dial tone already rang through the line. But Connor didn´t answer the conversation. The unpleasant feeling in her stomach returned. Was she relieved he wasn´t there at the moment and she couldn´t talk to him?  
Before she put her phone in her jacket pocket, it rang and for a second she thought it was Connor who called back. Her hope was shattered when she recognized Peter's voice.  
"You better come quickly," he said to her, "We got a call from the office of Scotland Yard, an envelope with a white powder showed up. The CDC is already on the scene and suspects it´s anthrax."  
"I'm on my way," Lindsay confirmed and hurried to the door of the small hotel.  
"There's something else you should know, but please promise me you won´t be upset..." he paused, "Connor was the caller. He is now in the Scotland Yard headquarters."  
"I´ll be there as fast as possible", she then ended the call and her concern had turned to fear. She feared that this powder really was anthrax. But at the most she was afraid she wouldn´t see Connor again.

To be continued


	3. Blood Thirst Ch3

Title: Blood Thirst Chapter 3  
Author: Dancing Star  
Crossover: PSI Factor / Sue Thomas FBEye  
Pairing: Connor/ Lindsay, Jack/ Sue  
Rating: 16 (includes some less beautiful scenes and nasty surprises)  
Category: AU, Crime, Romance  
Content: Connor and Lindsay are closer to "J" than they can imagine.  
Note: I own all rights to this story, the characters aren´t mine, however. If the story sounds familiar: congratulations. You found me. :-)

**Blood Thirst Chapter 3 **

The Scotland Yard building was located near the South Bridge, a nice neighborhood and usually the ride there from Connors hotel didn´t take long. Today, however, it felt like an eternity to Lindsay. Peter had called fifteen minutes ago and reported that an envelope with anthrax had shown up at Scotland Yard. Connor had informed Peter. That meant he was staying in the building. Every time Lindsay thought about this she felt ill and she could start crying. But she wanted to calm down. It would neither help Connor nor herself, if she lost control now.  
She was relieved when she finally got out of the black taxi at South Bridge. "Peter!," she cried. She discovered her former colleague behind a kind of road barrier.  
"Is this the Disease Control Center?", Lindsay wanted to know when a man in an orange protective suit staggered past her. With the helmet, on which tubes led to an oxygen tank on his back, the man almost looked like an alien. The figure trudged slowly to a green tent of plastic sheeting. In front of that, the man stepped in an ankle-high tub and his suit was sprayed with a disinfectant solution by another figure in an orange suit. Only then the man could enter the tent.  
"How is Connor?", Lindsay asked.  
"I don ´t know," Peter honestly replied, "Since he told us about the anthrax, we haven´t talked to each other... As far as I know, the people who are still in the building have a permanent call to the head of operations of the Disease Control Center." Peter wanted to tell her where exactly she could find this person, but she already ran away. Lindsay hurried between some onlookers, police officers and employees of the Disease Control Center and finally she found a dark-skinned man who looked as if he was the boss. "Are you...," she began, but he didn´t let her talk.  
"I don´t have time for interviews," he said and formally began to run away from her with a cup of coffee. Lindsay thought it was incredibly rude, that he dared to drink a coffee calmly in this situation. "Oh, I'm not with the press…," she assured him, "But my colleague is in the Scotland Yard building..."  
"Then you better start praying for him."  
"He reported about the envelope."  
"That's even worse," he finally stopped and Lindsay was thankful he didn´t comment she should buy a coffin for her colleague, although she could see he was close to saying this.  
"I'm Lindsay Donner, a private investigator from Edinburgh. Connor Doyle's my partner. We investigate the series of murders that began two months ago."  
"And who's that?", asked the dark-skinned man and Lindsay turned around shortly. Peter had followed her.  
"All right, Miss," the man finally gave in, "I'm Curtis Rollins, chief investigator of the crime scene unit." He had the responsibility to ensure that the Disease Control- people didn´t destroy any evidence. Lindsay remembered him: A few years ago he had solved the most exciting and most spectacular case of Edinburgh when one morning a dead man was found impaled on the meter-high metal fence at Holyrood Palace. Many people had feared the royal family was involved, but as it turned out, the Royals had nothing do with the dead man.  
"The anthrax powder showed up in an unmarked envelope," he told her.  
"Like the threatening letters," Lindsay thought. "Does that mean you already saw the envelope?"  
"The piece of paper has been decontaminated, so we can investigate it. Currently it´s in the police headquarters... We neither found fingerprints nor DNA evidence on the envelope. Thus, the envelope is worthless", Curtis Rollins said and based to the sound of his voice Lindsay though he didn´t liked this fact, too.  
"But there´s something else that worries me," Curtis Rollins now handed her a copy of a letter: "To Connor. You're next. J."  
Lindsay was freezing cold suddenly. The shock admitted that she identified the handwriting on the letter as the same on her threatening letters.  
"Do you have any idea where that anthrax powder came from?", Lindsay asked.  
"We have no idea," Curtis Rollins replied, "We have scoured all laboratories across the country. Nobody wants to have produced even a particle of anthrax." Of course it was possible that someone was lying to them.  
"What about the foreign research institutions?", Peter wanted to know.  
"So far, we have no trace. A Special Crime Force is currently investigating some laboratories in Asia and Europe."  
"Can I talk to my colleague in the building?", A glimmer of hope sprouted in Lindsay and was immediately destroyed when Curtis Rollins shook his head. Instead, he sent them away so she and Peter wouldn´t stand in the way of the Disease Control Center, like he called it. "Everything will be all right," Peter promised her when they reached the yellow police tape and passed it. Lindsay didn´t know why, but she felt as if this was his standard set.  
"Lindsay!", she heard someone calling her name and discovered Sue and Jack in the crowd of onlookers. Jack looked rather worried. "How is Connor?", he asked.  
"I don´t know," Lindsay said, "I can´t call him and he doesn´t answer his cell phone." She wondered how much Jack knew about the current situation at Scotland Yard and the question had become superfluous, when he showed her the screen of his mobile phone: While he and Sue were brought here by taxi, Jack had searched for the definition of anthrax with his Smartphone on the Internet and what he found there, neither cheered Sue nor Lindsay. Lindsay didn´t want to hear that Connor had been infected with a potentially fatal disease, which normally occurred in animals but humans could be attacked as well.  
"Sir, the building is now completely evacuated," Lindsay heard a man saying to Curtis Rollins. She assumed that the Disease Control Center would kill the anthrax bacteria by heat. Thanks to Jacks Smartphone she had learned that the pathogen was destroyed after three minutes at 140 degrees Celsius.  
"Where's Connor?", Jack wanted to know, "The guy just said, the building is empty."  
"I... I don´t know," Lindsay shook her head, "Probably at the hospital."  
Jack decided for them that they would immediately go to the hospital.

By now it was afternoon and after the decontamination, Connor and some other colleagues had been brought to the nearby hospital. The doctor, who had examined him previously, had prescribed him a few hours of sleep and so Connor sat down in the hospital bed, which had been assigned to him. He had closed his eyes when a clattering noise startled him. A new, empty bed was pushed into the room. Connor waited until the nurse had left, then got up and slipped into the shoes which had been given to him. He shuffled across the deserted corridor of the closed monitoring department. Finally, he flipped the switch of a mechanical door. The door opened and revealed the way to another monitoring unit. A sterile, cold light lit up the corridor. To his right there was a pane of glass, behind which a pale man was lying in a hospital bed. He knew the man. It was Matt Praeger of the administration department.  
Connor knocked on the window and Matt Praeger looked at him. He tried to raise his hand in greeting, but he was too exhausted. "What is this place?", Connor asked. He knew that his voice was hard to hear behind the glass.  
"They call it Anthrax Unit", Matt explained to him, "This is for the Scotland Yard staff, which is worst- hit."  
"I'm Connor Doyle, Field Agent."  
"I know: You have called the police... I'm Matt Praeger, administration department. I discovered the anthrax envelope."  
"Why are you so much sicker than the other agents?"  
Matt then told him that the Disease Control Center noticed him when they saw him coughing hard behind his desk and immediately brought him to the hospital for tests. Until that moment he had thought he had the flu. "...Who knows how long the powder had been in the building before I discovered it and got infected. The incubation period is quite long", Matt coughed, "The doctor told me that inhalational anthrax begins with coughing, fever, shortness of breath and chills", a sad smile flickered on Matt's face. His dry lips and the black circles under his eyes changed his grinning into the features of a death mask, "The symptoms fit. I'm dying. The doctor gives me six days... Probably then I'll drown in my own blood." Matt coughed again, holding his hand over his mouth. He tried to hide the blood, which then stuck to his fingers.  
Connor was kind of relieved that now a pane of glass was between him and Matt. A small voice tugged at his conscience and told him that he could have been in Matt´s situation, too, if his blood tests would have been worse.  
"You said the hardest- hit employees are housed here," Connor remembered, but except for Matt no one was here, "Where are the others?"  
"There's only me. Lindy, the head of administration, has died an hour ago. Hannah's at home. They'll probably also bring her."  
Connor nodded. It was better to get Hannah here, too, to prevent an epidemic.  
"Do you have a wife or a girlfriend?", Matt suddenly wanted to know.  
"No," Connor admitted, "But I'm working on it."  
"Is she pretty?"  
"Very much." He thought about Lindsay's eyes and her blond hair, which shone in the warm candlelight of her apartment. He remembered her velvety lips he had kissed once before and he also remembered the soft skin of her neck under his hands. Connor wondered if he would ever see her again. If this was over he had to talk to her, he thought.  
"What about you?", Connor asked.  
"I'm married", Matt coughed again, "But I´m not allowed seeing her." Matt wanted to continue talking, when a new voice behind Connor suddenly announced: "What are you doing here?", A nurse, dressed in a protective suit, came in. She sent Connor out immediately and before he left the so-called Anthrax Unit, he had to throw his slippers in a bucket for toxic waste and he had to return barefoot to his room. There he lay down again in his bed, trying to find some sleep. At least he tried, because he was thinking about Matt Praeger, who was only a few feet away behind a thick wall and a thick glass pane and wasn´t about to live much longer.

In the evening, Lindsay, Jack and Sue were still waiting in the St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Curtis Rollins was kind enough to let them know at least that Connor had been brought here. How exactly he was doing, he didn´t tell them. They were waiting for hours to see a doctor, who finally could give them some information. The chairs on which they sat, became more and more uncomfortable and Lindsay's eyelids grew heavy. She hadn´t eaten all day and her stomach was rumbling. Sue and Jack went to the hospital canteen to grab a bite half an hour ago. Lindsay didn´t come along: She wanted to wait if a doctor was finally able to say something about Connor's condition. The entire hospital was upside down because of the anthrax alarm at Scotland Yard, although the Disease Control announced by now everything was under fine.  
Lindsay's head was heavy and finally she decided to close her eyes for a moment. She was startled when she saw a man with a burned skin and unburned suit. In shock her cold hands slipped through her face and she sighed. It was just a dream.  
Jack and Sue weren´t back so far. Lindsay tried to nestle on the chair. Five minutes later she was asleep again.  
When she saw she was on an aircraft carrier, Lindsay cursed herself that she had fallen asleep. She was tired, but Connor was in danger and he needed her help. She found out it was almost as if she had never left the aircraft carrier since her last dream: Once again, it was dark and deserted Jets were still on the same parking positions as last time. This was the USS Sacramento, the ship, on which Connor was based at. Lindsay wondered why her dream led her to this place again.  
"The future is always changing," a voice said to her and she turned around. Robert Jones was back, but this time she didn´t see his burned body. This time he showed up in the form as he must have looked like before the accident.  
"The future is always changing," he repeated.  
"What does this mean?"  
"Nothing is as it seems. Don´t forget that." Robert Jones disappeared and the dream faded.  
"Miss Donner", a hand on her shoulder scared her. A doctor was suddenly standing in front of her and apologized that he had woke her. "Miss Donner, please come with me," he said and went ahead. She noticed from the corner of her eye, that Sue and Jack had come back, they also followed him and were concerned, too.  
On the way to Connor's room she thought again about the encounter with Robert Jones. He had said the future was constantly changing. Maybe he wanted to tell her that Connor's survival wasn´t guaranteed by the vision she had in her dreams. Yet she had no idea how Connor was. The doctors didn´t even tell her if he could be infected with anthrax and would die in a few days.  
The doctor accompanied them to a kind of door and after passing it, Lindsay, Sue and Jack got new shoes they had to wear throughout their stay. He then took them to Connors room and left them alone there. Connor sat on the bed, when they entered the room and obviously he was ready to be discharged home. The doctor had told him he was fine and was able to leave the hospital. A nurse had prepared a few tablets, but he thought it better if his friends didn´t see this.  
"I thought you wanted to go to your hotel this morning," Lindsay complained after she had entered the room, "Why did you drive to Scotland Yard headquarters?"  
"I´m also pleased to see you," he growled. He was wearing gray sportswear and his dark hair was a mess.  
Lindsay guessed how nerve-wracking the decontamination must have been. Still at Scotland Yard Connor had to dispense his clothes and then he was washed thoroughly by a team of doctors (the caustic gel was still burning on his skin) and after getting new clothes, he had to take some antibiotics. The same ones he had received by a nurse.  
"Are you okay?", Jack wanted to know worried and Connor nodded, "You look tired, I'll take you to your hotel."  
"That's not necessary. I´ll care", Lindsay objected," I have something important to discuss with Connor. "  
"Okay, but promise me you won´t kill my brother", Jack gave in and Lindsay and was relieved when he and his girlfriend Sue finally left half an hour later. She waited while Connor received a fleece jacket by a nurse. Today, Boxing Day, it was still freezing cold in the city and the clothes that Connor had worn the morning were still with the Disease Control.  
When they walked to the taxi stand in front of the hospital in the darkness, none of them was saying a word. Not even during the ride. She only started talking when they reached the hotel and she told him she would personally take care of his night's rest.  
The elevator took them to the first floor of the hotel.  
Room 104, in which Connor lived, usually had the sonorous name "Loch Lomond". Next door was a room called "Loch Leven". She had also seen rooms in a few other hotels, which were named like English counties.  
Lindsay insisted to accompany him to his room so she could be sure he really rested. "I slept all day," he grumbled. When doctors at the hospital asked him about his dark eye circles, he told them reluctantly he hadn´t slept for nearly 72 hours and the doctors prescribed him a nap. It wasn´t much, but it had been good.  
"That isn´t the reason why I'm here," she said and had to admit it was even the truth. She pushed the concern about his physical condition aside because there was one thing she had to tell him. "You shouldn´t have gone to the Scotland Yard headquarters," she began while they entered Connors room. The maid had left a message on the bed in which the hotel management asked if Connor still needed his room after he hadn´t slept here for days.  
"What's wrong with you?", he threw his jacket on the bed and turned around to face her, "So you think it´s my fault?"  
"No, but did you think for only one second about what would your brother do, if you came just a bit closer to that damn powder?"  
"That's your problem?", he asked incredulously.  
"And did you also think about me for a second?", she became angry and took a step back when he suddenly came in her direction. Finally he stopped in front of her. "Every day for the last two months," Connor said and kissed her. He expected to be pushed away like when he first kissed her two months, but she didn´t. Instead, she pulled him even closer and deepened the kiss. His hands slid down her waist and stayed there, as their kiss became more passionately. "I love you," she murmured breathlessly.  
"What?," he let her go. Connor still held her in his arms and was trying to kiss her again. His fatigue was gone.  
"I wanted to tell you that when the call about the anthrax envelope came. I thought I'd never see you again." With her hand in his hair she pulled him closer and kissed him again. She told him again how much she loved him. Her heart almost skipped a beat, when he told her that he felt the same way.  
She kissed him deeper, welcoming, hoping he would understand. Finally, he picked her up, carried her to the bed and put her down on it.  
"You don´t know how long I've waited for this," he muttered, his fingers darting under the edge of her shirt and as he kissed her neck, she smiled. She knew he wouldn´t send her home that night but proving her he was worth it. He freed her from her clothes and squeezed her gently back into the soft sheets of the bed. His touches and kisses made her body fly and she was eager to become one with him. She knew he was the same.  
Hours later they lay arm in arm and enjoyed the warmth of the other. Connor had told her that he loved her. The thought of it left behind a smile on her face, before she fell asleep exhausted.

The next morning they woke up together. After they had dressed and Connor kissed her good morning and told her they wouldn´t get breakfast in his hotel because his room was reserved only for one person. So they had to eat in a restaurant and he saw she wondered if this was just an excuse to get rid of her, but she was proved wrong, when they took a taxi and didn´t drive to the detective agency, but to the Scott Monument, where he then invited her for breakfast at Scotts in the Park. It wasn´t a posh breakfast, but at least they got a coffee and some donuts. In addition, Sue wasn´t at the detective agency for sure.  
After breakfast Connor took Lindsay to her office and said goodbye to her. Connor would get his car first, which was still standing at the Scotland Yard- garage.  
It was eight o´clock in the morning and how Lindsay found out during entering, Sue had already started working. "Good morning," Lindsay said, trying to hide her good mood. Sue would ask what was going on and why her mood had improved dramatically. Lindsay didn´t know if she was able to hide this. So she was very relieved when she sat behind her desk and started working, too.  
Lindsay wasn´t a little surprised when Connor soon after entered her detective agency and Sue held the door for him. Sue asked how he was doing today and this was acknowledged with a satisfied "Very good". He was carrying a heavy box in front of him and was looking for a place where he could park his gift. So he marched across the detective agency.  
"You're back again," Lindsay stated as she broke away from the coffee machine and came to him.  
"It's always nice to be here, dear," Connor replied and of course Lindsay registered Sues puzzled expression. Lindsay wanted to keep in private what had happened between them, at least for now and Sue didn´t need to know. Unfortunately, Sue had noticed everything. "What happened?", she asked. She now worked long enough in Lindsay's detective agency to know if someone was lying to her or trying to hide something.  
"You slept together," Sue stated, "I see it in Lindsay's eyes."  
"We should focus on finding "J", okay?", Lindsay disagreed.  
That Lindsay dodged was enough confirmation for Sue. Sue also decided to stop asking such things because Lindsay never discussed this with her.  
"I've brought something," Connor said and eventually went on his way to her desk.  
"I thought you were working at Scotland Yard," she said. She followed him with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand.  
"I do, though."  
"But you spend more time in my office than in yours", she had to admit it was strange from the beginning.  
"That's what Field Agents do. We don´t spend much time at the headquarters but investigating at crime scene." Connor put the box on Lindsay's desk and began to clear out countless videotapes. He noticed her questioning glance.  
"Here are the surveillance tapes of the main entrance of Scotland Yard," he told her.  
"Wouldn´t it be more useful if Scotland Yard evaluates the videotapes?", Lindsay asked. When he was done, they had a total of 40 videotapes. It had to be the records of about an entire week. Meanwhile, Sue had come to them to see what was in Connor's box.  
"There are only copies. I told them I know of a very capable private investigator that can certainly help us to find out who has brought the anthrax to the headquarters."  
"If we find this person, we can also find "J", Sue suggested.  
Connor put the first tape in the old VCR, he had brought along. The tape showed them what happened at the entrance of the Scotland Yard building between six o´clock until nine o´clock in the morning and because they didn´t fast forward, they had to watch three hours of visitors which came in. The Scotland Yard building in Edinburgh was a public building but Lindsay assumed this was over after the anthrax alarm.  
After they had watched the first tape to end, Sue went to the coffee machine and poured a cup for herself, Connor and Lindsay.  
"How primitive", Lindsay groused meanwhile, when she got a new videotape, "Scotland Yard is one of the world's leading forensic authorities and they´re still storing the monitoring of their entrance area on videocassette... Can´t you afford DVDs?" She didn´t even own a VCR. After this remark she earned an oblique side view from Connor. Lindsay thought it also had to be a hard job, to ensure every three hours for a new cartridge in the surveillance system.  
They looked the next cartridge in fast forward and when it was time for lunch, they had already watched three cassettes.  
"Will we ever find him?", Lindsay asked. Her head ached because of the constant concentration. She watched Connor, who picked up a cup of coffee again.  
"Definitely. "J" can´t hide forever", Sue promised her and reached for the remote control. She rewound the next tape with triple speed.  
"Anyone could be the killer behind the pseudonym "J", she sighed and looked at Connor, who was now beside her, "Even you."  
"Me?", Connor asked, a little confused and almost ashamed, because she suspected him, "If I were the killer, I certainly wouldn´t be so stupid and smuggle a package with deadly anthrax in the building where I work." He sipped.  
"That's true," Sue said. They turned their eyes to the screen.  
"Wind back!", Lindsay suddenly called and Sue pushed a button on the remote control. The videotape rattled back and Sue repeated the monitoring at normal speed. They saw on television, how some people entered the headquarters and Sue suddenly stopped.  
"Do you see what I see?", she wanted to know and Lindsay nodded.  
"This is Peter." On the tape was a man to be seen with short, graying hair. It was clearly Peter.  
"He didn´t tell me he was at Scotland Yard headquarters."  
"If he was there, then certainly not for professional reasons", Sue suggested, because on the tape Peter was wearing casual clothing and not his police uniform, "And look what he´s holding in his hand." Sue regretted they couldn´t use the zoom, but she could see the envelope in Peter's hand very well.  
"He wears gloves," Lindsay muttered and remembered there weren´t fingerprints or DNA evidences on the crime scenes or the anthrax envelope.  
An uneasy feeling spread through her stomach. "Yesterday Peter asked me about the last message, which "J" sent me", she told them and continued to stare at the screen.  
"How did he know about it?", Connor wanted to know suddenly.  
"He told me you mentioned the message when he met you at a Sandwich shop." Only now, she managed to break away from the video recordings.  
"Do you really think I´d discuss the facts of a murder case in a fast food restaurant?... I also didn´t see Peter for two months."  
"He lied to me," Lindsay muttered and apologized. She wanted to be alone for a moment, but Connor thought it was a bad idea. Lindsay reassured him she just wanted to get some fresh air and he still could have an eye on her.  
After fifteen minutes, she came back into the warm office. Sue and Connor were discussing what they should do and now Jack also showed up. They looked up from their files and stretched when the front door flew open to see who walked into the office.  
It was Lindsay who came in. "I know who the killer is," she said and based on her facial expressions Connor could see she didn´t like the solution of the riddle. Lindsay continued: "It's Peter. He knew that I´m involved in the investigation."  
"Because he has asked for your help," Connor recalled and she nodded in agreement.  
"He knows where I live and that I have worked with the police. And of course, he also knew my cell phone number. He just had to buy a prepaid cell phone, which he used for sending the message to me... But what is his motive?"  
"Spurned love, maybe," Connor suggested, "After your separation he realized, you drifted away from him..."  
Sue nodded, because she found the pieces of the puzzle fit together.  
"...And when neither the police nor Scotland Yard could solve the case because the killer knew perfectly, he has asked me for help. So I had to work with him."  
"…Until I showed up. Thus one came to the other. But what about the anthrax?", Connor asked, "You said you told him that I'm back in town at the day where the anthrax has showed up at Scotland Yard. Thus he would have to smuggle in the powder within one hour."  
"He has smuggled it into the building in advance," Lindsay suggested, "Maybe he was following me and saw you. You were a few days in the city before he learned you're back and so he had enough time to come up with a plan of revenge... When he realized he wouldn´t get me back, he tried to get rid of you... He used the murders to come closer to me again."  
She wondered if Peter had an alibi and she realized he didn´t. She remembered the crime scene photos on which she saw a man in a costume and when she looked at the photos again, she now found the man looked like Peter. And when she checked the protocol she realized he wasn´t at the crime scene when the photo was taken: He arrived much later in his role as investigator.  
"Why did Peter choose the name "J" for his killer image?," Jack asked and his girlfriend Sue, who stood beside him, shrugged her shoulders.  
"No idea," Connor admitted, "Probably just by chance... Or he´s good informed: in the last British census, it emerged that 15% of all male names start with J: John, Jason, Jack, James... I guess the statistics are even published in the newspaper."  
"No, it was my fault: In the evening, when I told you about my suspicion in my detective agency I called him and we talked about the case…", she realized what that meant.  
For a second, an uncomfortable silence fell in the room.  
"What will we do now?", Connor asked. He didn´t want to decide if she would call Captain Hendricks and the rest of the police.

They drove straight to the police building. Although Peter was her friend, Lindsay was aware she had to report her suspicions. If Peter really was the killer, he had a lot to answer for. Each dead person was one victim too much.  
Lindsay was curious to see how Captain Hendricks would react when he learned that one of his policemen was the killer. Inwardly, she feared of being called a spinner again, because he had done this when they were looking for a father, who had abducted his three children. During the ride to the police Connor would have liked to say a few soothing words, but he didn´t know Captain Hendricks. Therefore it was impossible for him to assess how he would react.  
"It´s really sad", Lindsay suddenly said, "I mean, he was my friend. How could he do that?"  
"You never know how the day ends", Connor replied, "In the morning people are best friends and in the evening they don´t even talk to each other."  
At the entrance of the police building were also placed some guards meanwhile and they were able to bypass the long queue only by showing Connors Scotland Yard- ID to the security personnel. Otherwise they would have the walked through a metal detector.  
The elevator took them to the eighth floor. There wasn´t only Peter's department, but also Captain Hendricks office. They were lucky: The captain was alone, reading a site report, when they entered the office. "Lindsay Donner?", he looked up from the map and then he rose from his chair.  
"Good day, sir... Um, this is Connor Doyle from Scotland Yard", she introduced her companion and Connor shook Captain Hendricks hand. Connor guessed the Captain was about 65 years old. He had a very friendly face expression and his bald head made him look serious and life experience.  
"Lindsay, I haven´t seen you for a long time. How are you?", Captain Hendricks offered her and Connor to sit down.  
"I´m fine," at least that was her standard response and she had to admit it was a lie. She didn´t feel well since days already. Since she knew that "J" was back.  
"How´s your detective agency?", Captain Hendricks asked with interest.  
"I can´t complain," at least that was the truth. Business was good and for a second she wondered if she should thank him for firing her one year ago because he found out that she and Peter... Now she remembered again why she and Connor actually came here.  
"Sir, we know who "J" is", she started and the smile in Captain Hendricks's face disappeared. He suddenly looked very serious and leaned back in his office chair. "I have the feeling the answer to the riddle isn´t very nice," he suggested and Lindsay nodded.  
"It's Peter. Peter Axon."  
Captain Hendricks now dropped both arms on his desk and looked at them a little disbelieving. "Did you say the killer is Peter Axon?"  
"I knew you wouldn´t believe me, but we saw him on the surveillance tapes from Scotland Yard when he smuggled the anthrax envelope into the building."  
"Why would he do that? You and Peter..."  
She interrupted her former boss because she didn´t want to hear what he was going to say, "That's exactly the point. Peter wanted my attention and when the police wasn´t able to solve the murder investigation two months ago, he asked me for help. "  
"He was hoping to get Lindsay again", Connor added, who hadn´t said a word so far, "And when he realized he won´t be lucky, because I showed up, he first tried to threaten Lindsay and then get me out of the way: He wrote to Lindsay he would kill her and sent he anthrax envelope into the building where I work." Connor thought about the entire administrative staff which had died and he immediately thought about his encounter with Matt Praeger.  
"Peter Axon is one of our best people..."  
"Therefore, he messed about with you, the police and Scotland Yard for several months," Lindsay said angrily when she realized he didn´t believe her.  
"All right," Captain Hendricks admitted after all, "I don´t think It´s true, but I´m obliged to investigate every suspicion." He reached for the phone on his desk and Lindsay watched him sending some policemen to Peters home.

Because Lindsay knew exactly where Peter lived, she and Connor also drove there and watched the raid from a safe distance. Connor parked his Ford on the other side of the street. He and Lindsay didn´t leave the car. If Peter should become angry and lose all control they were safe. They both were in a certain way on his hit list and she didn´t know if Peter would use his weapon to kill someone. So far he had used knives for killing. How Lindsay found out this morning, Peter had an uncle in Glasgow. This uncle owned a butcher shop and when she called him she learned about Uncle Tom´s missing knives.  
If Peter had used his gun, the detectives at crime scene would have found him because of the remaining bullets.  
"Connor, what if we're wrong?", she asked and he couldn´t believe she doubted, "Captain Hendricks then will kill me."  
"I´m sure Peter is the killer," he hoped to be able to calm her, "Both of us have seen him on the Scotland Yard- surveillance tapes." Moreover, the facts of the story fit together like puzzle pieces.  
On the opposite side of the road now a black van slowed. The doors opened and ten men with heavy artillery and armored uniform hurried out. They ran up the stairs to the front door and opened it with the master key. Lindsay assumed they got the key from the owner of the house. "I didn´t know that Captain Hendricks sends a special task force," Lindsay muttered and immediately the ten men disappeared into the house.  
"Perhaps he thought about our visit and had to admit we might be right."  
Lindsay nodded. "Perhaps?", she then said, "My god. You´re already talking like British people do."  
They waited five minutes then a police patrol with Captain Hendricks arrived. The SWAT team now came out of the house and the men pulled the thick, black helmets off their heads. "I'm sorry, sir," the man said to Captain Hendricks and when Lindsay, who was still sitting in the car with Connor, saw his shrug, she got out.  
Connor followed her and together they rushed to get to Captain Hendricks.  
"He wasn´t at home," the leader of operations said. He was a little disappointed he couldn´t arrest the currently most wanted man in Scotland.  
The unit was dismissed and the first members of the police and forensic team went upstairs. Lindsay also wanted to see Peter's apartment, but Captain Hendricks forbid her. She would have to stay here with Connor.  
The search in the residence lasted seemingly forever and Lindsay was excited when Curtis Rollins, whom she already knew from the investigation at Scotland Yard, left the apartment building.  
"What did you find?", Lindsay wanted to know and Curtis Rollins first looked at Captain Hendricks. He wanted to make sure it was fine when he told her about his investigation. Lindsay was relieved when the captain nodded.  
"We found some kind of collage in his apartment," Curtis took out a large digital camera and showed Lindsay and Connor some photographs on the display.  
"This is Lindsay," Connor stated. Most of the photos in the collage showed Lindsay and there were even pictures where Connor was shown. "He was watching us," Lindsay enlarged a section of the display so she could see the photos in the collage much better. One of the pictures showed her and Connor, when they ate hotdogs at the Ocean Terminal on Christmas Eve. Therefore Peter knew that Connor was back in Edinburgh. In another picture, obviously it was taken with a wide angle lens and through her window, she and Connor were drinking beer in her apartment two months ago. It was the night when she told Connor the story about the father and his three children.  
"There´s no place in which he didn´t watch us", Connor dryly said, Lindsay nodded. She suddenly felt terribly bad.  
"Unfortunately, that wasn´t all," Curtis Rollins hated disappointing them, "We have found even synthetic hair in the home of our suspect person," he said and turned to the next photo evidence. It showed a full tube of theatrical glue and some fake sideburns. When Curtis Rollins put the camera into the bag, they saw one of Curtis´ colleagues carrying a long black coat, wrapped in a sterile garment bag, out of the house and putting it to the other evidences in the vehicle of the crime scene department. That was his disguise he wore in the killings.  
"Do you have any idea where he might is now?", Captain Hendricks wanted to know and Curtis Rollins and Lindsay shook their heads at the same time. Curtis admitted he couldn´t find indications about Peter´s current location in the apartment. According to the shift schedule he had two days off.  
"Then we have to find him," the captain agreed.  
"Can we have a look at the apartment?", Lindsay wanted to know and Curtis replied he had no problem with that. Before her former boss could disagree, Lindsay went to the stairs leading to the house and Connor followed her.  
In the house there was no lift and Connor cursed the fact that Peter didn´t live in the ground floor. When they arrived at the floor where Peter lived, they met some people from the crime scene department who hadn´t cleaned up their equipment yet. A woman nodded encouragingly, when she noticed Lindsay was the woman in the photo collage.  
"We don´t need to do that," Connor told her, when Lindsay stood in the doorway.  
He reached for her hand for a moment and she entered the flat.  
Peter's apartment was trashed from top to bottom: Countless empty food packages were piled next to dirty dishes in the kitchen. There was a musty smell in the apartment and Lindsay heard a beep. Apparently mice already lived in this chaos.  
"I didn´t know Peter has such problems," she admitted, because she had never noticed anything.  
They reached the living room, which was also plugged with garbage and worn clothing.  
"Here is the photo collage," she said and hurried to the wall. From several meters away the collage of photos looked like Lindsay's face. That was a detail she hadn´t noticed on Curtis Rollins' digital prints. She didn´t know if the professional had noticed it.  
Lindsay felt a little responsible for the chaos. She wondered if it would have been different if she hadn´t left him one year ago.  
"We should go," Connor suggested, "The air in here is pretty bad." He knew she saw through this as an excuse, but he was relieved when she to the door went with him.  
Outside the street the last members of the forensics got into their cars to return to the police department. They had everything they needed.  
"You were right," Connor said to her while they crossed the road together and re-entered the Ford, "Peter is in fact the killer."  
"Yes. I'm just not sure if I should be happy because we almost caught him or if I should be sad because it ever came this far."  
"I'll take you home," Connor offered, started the engine and she nodded gratefully. After that terrible day she was very happy to be able to lie down for a few hours and sleep.  
Connor´s Ford slowed down a few minutes later in front of her apartment.  
"Are you sure you get along alone?", he asked, "Shouldn´t I stay with you?"  
"Agent Doyle, that's pretty obvious what you really want," she scolded him and saw that he hated it when she called him Agent Doyle.  
"I don´t think it´s right to leave you alone if Peter is out there and maybe even just waiting for an opportunity to kill you."  
"Do you really think he'd do that?"  
"He sent you threatening letters and sent me a load of anthrax into the office. Who knows what will come next", Connor said and he realized he wouldn´t find a way to convince her. Finally he gave in. "Do you still have my spare weapon with you?", he asked and she nodded, "Then promise me you will always have it with you and that you will call me if something´s wrong."  
"Okay, I promise." Lindsay unfastened her seat belt and tried to get out, when she again reached for his hand and pulled him close to kiss him goodbye. Then she grabbed the door, got out and noticed how perplexed Connor watched her. "I'll call you tomorrow morning," she assured him and waved before she unlocked the door with her key and finally disappeared inside the house.

After Lindsay had showered, she took the delicious smelling lasagna out of the oven. She sat down on her couch and ate her dinner with a glass of wine. Lately, she hadn´t ate very healthy. During her monitor jobs she was used to didn´t have much time for a healthy lifestyle and actually there was no reason to eat vegetables tonight. But she loved lasagna with fine Italian cheeses and the simmering tomato sauce.  
An uncomfortable rain was beating against the window panes and Lindsay wondered if the ice on the road would now probably be even thicker.  
She drank the last sip of red wine and was startled by a muffled sound, which came from her balcony. Lindsay remembered Connors weapon and it was still in her bag. She rushed to get the gun and slipped as unobtrusive as she could, to the window. With a flashlight she looked outside and discovered the cat of a neighbor which had jumped on one of her outdoor furniture and overturned it. Relieved, she exhaled.  
Then she screamed when a figure pulled her to the ground from behind. "Peter!," she cried when she saw the shadow that had attacked her. Her eyes fell on Connors spare weapon that had fallen out of her hand and now only lay a few feet away from her on the cold floor. In addition, a warm liquid was running down her forehead. Presumably she had been injured in the fall.  
Crawling on all fours, she tried to get the gun, but Peter kicked the weapon away from her with his foot. Her hand hurt for a second. She knew that she currently looked pretty miserable, how she crawled on the floor and looked up at him helplessly.  
She noticed how Peter now fumbled in his jacket pocket and finally she saw a silver flashing object in his hand. A pocket knife.  
"What are you doing?", Her voice quivered and she barely registered that her cell phone rang constantly.  
"Didn´t you read my messages?", he said and snapped the blade of his knife.  
"How did you come in here?", the question was unnecessary when she saw her spare key in his hands. Lindsay decided to take advantage of the unguarded moment and lunged towards him, so she could overthrow him. Peter lost his balance and struck hard with his upper body on the floor. He turned around and put his foot on her. He kicked her in the ribs, so she stepped back in horror.  
At that moment, Peter got up and ran to the door to escape, but there he met Connor. He wasn´t prepared to meet Peter now. Peter lashed out with a fist and the blow struck Connor directly in the face. An exploding pain and a disgusting clicking noise in Connor's cheek made him lose orientation for a second. He crushed to the door frame and remained on the floor unconscious.  
Peter didn´t give him any attention and wanted to leave Lindsay's apartment when suddenly a bullet hit the wall next to him. "Not a step further!", A voice behind him hissed and he turned around. Lindsay held Connors spare weapon in her hand.  
"You're a murderer! You're a dammed serial killer! How could you do this to me!?", she cried in despair and taught Connors gun at him.  
"I'm not the killer, Linds," Peter said and Lindsay hated when he called her like this, "Connor is the murderer. He has planned the murders from the beginning."  
"No," Lindsay whispered and Peter saw how her hand trembled. Tears welled up in Lindsay's eyes.  
"He's the killer and you know I don´t lie to you," his voice sounded calm and Lindsay didn´t notice that he was coming more and more towards her. Apparently he had rejected his plan to escape from her home and he now sought a direct confrontation with her. "Linds, you know you can trust me."  
"Stop talking!," she yelled. Her hand trembled more and tears of fear and anger ran down her cheeks. She didn´t notice that Connor slowly regained consciousness. He crawled to Lindsay and stood up. "Let it be," he murmured to her, "He isn´t worth it."  
"Perhaps..." Her finger on the trigger of the gun more tensed. When Connor heard footsteps on the stairs, he carefully placed his hand on Lindsay´s. A policeman grabbed Peter and held him while Connor got Lindsay´s gun and when he put an arm around her she began to cry.

She was sorry that she had let herself go, was crying in Connor's arms and almost killed Peter. It was the stress of the last few days and the fact that a dangerous killer had placed her on his list. She had never been in such a situation. She was more relieved that it was over now.  
A policeman led Peter, handcuffed, almost fifteen minutes later out of her apartment and Lindsay watched this spectacle mesmerized from the street. Peter struggled, as he was forced to sit down on the back seat of a police car.  
Captain Hendricks came to her and she had to answer all sorts of questions to him. So she told him what had happened. After Lindsay had talked to the captain he send her to the ambulance he had called because of her head injury but instead, she searched for Connor. She finally found him: He talked to his new colleagues from Scotland Yard. Because she didn´t want to disturb them, she strolled slowly towards him. Connor ended the conversation, when he saw her and came to her.  
"Are you okay?", he asked and she nodded.  
"It's not that bad," she reassured him. After the police arrived at her home, she quickly got a patch out of the bathroom and stuck it on her injury, before she and Connor had to go outside, too.  
"I'm glad that it's over," Lindsay admitted. On this side of the road there was a park bench, which was still covered with snow and ice. Although it was cold, Connor and Lindsay sat down on it. The moon was full and round at the starry night sky and bathed the ice on the road in a mysterious sparkle. For a long time none of them spoke a word. They watched as the police and Scotland Yard again entered her apartment.  
"How...", she gasped for breath suddenly, "How did you know he was here?"  
"I called you," he told her, "I wanted to tell you that Peter has been seen by a police patrol near the Lothian Street, but they couldn´t catch him." The Lothian Street wasn´t far away from here. While he was talking, Lindsay looked at the screen of her mobile phone. She saw a message she had missed 35 calls from Connor.  
"When you didn´t answer the phone, I thought, he's here," Connor continued, "I came here immediately."  
"Thank you", she now remembered the fierce punch, which Connor had received from Peter. As she noted, the cheekbone under his left eye started being blue.  
"You should see a doctor," she suggested and pointed discreetly to the ambulance that was parked in a short distance from them, "Maybe you're hurt seriously."  
"No, I know how a broken bone feels," he tried to smile, but the pain in his face stopped him and he realized he really should see a doctor. Tomorrow.  
"What about the bounty? We could share the money after we caught the killer", he suggested, "I'm pretty tired," Connor then admitted.  
"Yeah, me too." Before this had happened she wanted to have a nice evening. Now she didn´t know how long the police would still block her apartment.  
"You can stay with me tonight," Connor suggested and Lindsay closed her eyes for a second. She knew exactly what he meant. Was she smiling?  
"I think that sounds very good," she agreed. They got up from the bench and walked hand in hand to Connors orange Ford which was parked in front of the house.

The container ship, which brought Connors belongings from Canada to Scotland, came on January 2nd and as Lindsay had promised she got him Haggis as moving in- gift. Lindsay appeared in the early morning in Connors new apartment and noticed that she really liked his accommodation: "This is a very nice apartment. Really." The apartment was a little bit bigger than hers and even though all the furniture was missing, Connor gave her a tour through his first own home on the European continent.  
"Which room is it?", Lindsay asked when he showed her a large room with adjoining bathroom on the top floor of his duplex apartment. She knew the room and she had to think for a moment why. Then it came to her.  
"No idea," Connor shrugged his shoulders, "I thought it could be a nice office."  
"A bedroom would be nicer," Lindsay said. A ringing at the door ended the tour. Connor's brother Jack and his girlfriend Sue had also gathered as moving helpers. So the day passed and at night the apartment was cluttered with boxes. Jack would help his older brother establishing the furniture tomorrow.  
In the evening, Connor and Lindsay were alone in the apartment. Connor had ordered something to eat for both at an Italian restaurant in the neighboring street. They were sitting on the living room floor. This area was meant for his couch.  
Lindsay asked him, whether he had no electricity in his apartment, because he had given her three candles. Connor looked at her annoyed and hit the light switch then he freed her noodles from tin foil and put it on a plate.  
"That shouldn´t mean it's dark in here," Lindsay lit the candles and after she had placed them in the appropriate place in the living area, she turned off the light. It was almost dark in the apartment. She liked it better that way, she had to admit.  
"What do you like to drink?", Connor gave her the noodles, then went back into the kitchen, looking for the packing case in which glasses were, "Sue has left a bottle of wine here." The red wine was the only drink he could find in the moving- chaos, without having to search for hours.  
"Red wine is good," she agreed. She was relieved when Connor sat down next to her on the floor and they began to eat. "You have a very nice apartment," she said.  
"How many times do you want to say this?," he asked. He found it suspicious she mentioned that so often. Connor still didn´t know about the future vision and Lindsay wouldn´t tell him now. It was enough if he knew that she loved him. The last days with him were relaxing and enjoying. She noticed being together felt great, if they weren´t chasing a killer. Sometimes, when they were out for dinner or she picked him up after work at Scotland Yard headquarters and noticed the envious glances of his colleagues, or if they spend the time in her home, they felt like a normal couple. She pushed the memory of the circumstances in which they had met, aside.  
It would take a while until she had processed Peters diabolical game. She thought too often about the case, even now. Even if she didn´t wanted her thoughts slipped again to the day when Peter attacked her in her apartment.  
Of course, Connor noticed because she stopped talking two minutes ago and was pocking around in her noodles. "You think back to the case?"  
"Yes," she nodded, "He tried to play us off against each other."  
"How did you actually know he´s lying?", Connor asked with interest.  
"I knew I can trust you when we chased him down the street and we had an involuntary trip to the sewers. Because you can´t run after yourself, I knew you´re not the killer."  
"And if the killer would have had an accomplice?"  
"I can´t imagine there is one person who can keep such a terrible thing in private," she paused then looked at him, "So that was what Robert Jones was trying to tell me. He said nothing is, as it seems."  
"It´s never," Connor said and sipped his wine.  
"Yes, but now I understand," Lindsay put down her fork. "Have you done this because of me?," she finally asked. This made her think for days.  
"What?", Connor poked at his food. The way he looked at her, confirmed her he actually had no idea what she was talking about.  
"Did you move to Scotland because of me?"  
"No."  
"Liar," she threw her napkin at him. Then she took his hand. "You are by far are the worst liar I've ever seen," she complained and registered the grin on his face. They both knew what it meant and how this evening would end.  
"I know." He didn´t care to prove to her she was right and he was a liar. Because then he would actually be one.

Fin


	4. Fire Storm Ch 1

Title: Firestorm  
Author: Dancing Star  
Crossover: PSI Factor / Sue Thomas FBEye  
Pairing: Connor / Lindsay, Jack / Sue  
Rating: 16 (includes some less beautiful scenes)  
Category: AU, Crime, Mystery, Romance  
Summaries: Everything´s messed up after Lindsay and Connor return from vacation: A body was found and shortly afterwards disappears mysteriously from the custody of Scotland Yard. In their investigations Lindsay and Connor encounter dark secrets and a lot of opposition.  
Note: I own the idea to this story, the characters aren´t mine, however. If the story sounds familiar: congratulations. You have found me. :-)

**Firestorm **

Edinburgh 2011

Sue Thomas waited anxiously for Lindsay at the Edinburgh airport.  
Lindsay and Connor spent their first anniversary abroad and had just finished their vacation. Sues boss waved when she pushed her suitcase to the exit and saw Sue, who wanted to take them home. "Did you have nice holiday?", Sue wanted to know and Lindsay nodded. She was in high spirits, but her smile disappeared when she looked into the face of her boyfriend.  
"Sue, what's going on?," Connor asked seriously. He had already noticed the crowds at the airport. Of course, the airport has always been frequently used, but today excessively many people were here. Mostly there were people with cameras. Connor thought they there were reporters.  
"Didn´t you have TV and newspaper at your holiday home? It was all over the media that a body was found", she saw in the disbelieving faces of her friends, "Adelaide's burned down the day before yesterday and the fire department has found a body in the remains." Until the shopping mall Adelaide´s burned down a few days ago it was one of the most popular places in the city. The police thought it was fire raising, but they still had no suspect yet.  
"Yes, I thought so," he had heard of this, when he and Lindsay had been waiting for their luggage at the baggage claim, but he hoped Sue had more information.  
"What's so special about this death person?" They went to Sue's car. Outside it was already very cold, because it was early December and the cold air from Northern Europe was floating over the British Isles. Lindsay had forgotten it wasn´t as warm in the United Kingdom as at their vacation home.  
"Well, officially, no one knows for sure. No one claims to have seen something. Neither the police nor Scotland Yard, which is housing the body", Sue said when her car drove off.  
"And unofficially?", Connor finally wanted to know when the vehicle joined a queue of other waiting cars.  
"The unofficial version is some people have seen that the dead man..."  
"So it´s a male dead?", Connor on the back seat interrupted her and Sue rolled her eyes.  
"Yes. And he should have had arms down to his knees and was very small. That's all I know." Sue had heard some rumors. It they were true she didn´t know.  
"Sounds scary," Connor laughed and Lindsay flashed him a smile. Sue's car went over a road wave before it stopped after 10 minutes in front of Connors apartment. They brought the suitcases out of the car and thanked Sue for picking them up from the airport. When Sue drove away, Connor and Lindsay remained back on the icy sidewalk. "She could at least ask me if she should take me to my apartment," Lindsay groused.  
"Somehow I have the feeling you don´t wanna go there", Connor predicted and she grinned. He knew exactly what she was thinking now and it wasn´t a bit scary. He knew her too well.  
"The only problem is, I don´t work with Scotland Yard."  
"But I do. Maybe I can help you."

Connor informed the coroner that they would come to see the mysterious corpse once. The medical examiner, Dr. Claire Davison, picked them up at the front door and with them she entered the basement of the building. "The strange thing about the body is that it has no fingerprints. The fingertips were cut off ", the doctor told, "We did some X-ray images of the teeth and asked the dentists in the city to send the images to their patients who could be potential victims. The only thing we know is there has to be a ten year old boy..."  
"Wait! Did you say...?"  
"Yes," Doctor Davison nodded, "I don´t know who can be so cruel... So far we don´t know his name."  
"Let me guess: The dead person had no ID with him."  
"Unfortunately, yes", the doctor walked out of the elevator first, when they reached the basement, "The body must have died before the fire at Adelaide's: I have found dead spots on his well-preserved bin that aren´t moveable anymore and I can´t push them away." He showed them a photo of a slightly singed waist with purple spots.  
"We have no idea who the boy is," Dr. Davison continued, "We don´t need to start showing his images to the population." The doctor finally walked into the morgue and first took care of her papers. The room was as usually cool and smelled of formaldehyde. Lindsay wrinkled her nose as she noticed the smell and wondered why it didn´t bother Dr. Davison. Maybe she was used to that, she thought. When she was still working with the police, she had seen how Dr. Cooper and his colleagues had eaten hamburgers over the chest of a dead man in their lunch break. Today this memory caused an unpleasant nausea, but she decided to control herself.  
Four of the five examination tables were empty. On the fifth metal table was only a rumpled blue cloth.  
"Don´t be too shocked if you see him: The fire has destroyed large parts of the face and scalp, so we just have a bunch of charred flesh," Dr. Davison continued at last, "You will be surprised if you see the corpse. "  
"I don´t see anything," said Connor, "He's gone."  
Only now Dr. Davison let go her documents and turned around. In fact, all examination tables were empty.  
"I don´t understand," Lindsay murmured, "How is this possible? Did the boy suddenly rise from the dead and walked out of the building?" They thought it was pretty unlikely: Even at this time of day someone should have noticed when a naked boy with burnt skin ran through the main building of Scotland Yard.  
"I was only five minutes away to pick you up," Dr. Davison knew she had to explain this to the senior investigator and went to the phone. Lindsay noticed only from the corner of her eye when Dr. Davison spoke to her boss. She then helped Connor to find out whether the pathology had an additional exit. But there were no hidden doors and emergency exits. They even looked at the refrigerators because they suspected the medical examiner perhaps had forgotten that the body was locked away. Lindsay was relieved when all the fridges were empty. The refrigerators in which the dead bodies were kept, until they were released to the funeral home, still scared her even after so many years of working with the police.  
Finally Doctor Davison finished her phone conversation and she looked quite unhappy. "That was Assistant Chief Marquardt," she told them, "Agent Doyle, he wants to see you now... He didn´t sound very pleased when I told him you are here."  
"What about me?", Lindsay wanted to know.  
"I didn´t tell him you are also in the pathology, Miss Donner."  
"And I would prefer if he doesn´t learn about this," Connor agreed, "I'll see Assistant Chief Marquardt alone."

Connor was curious what Assistant Chief Marquardt had to discuss with him. He would tell Lindsay later: He had told her to wait for him in his car. That the Assistant Chief didn´t know about Lindsay´s presence in the pathology, helped him a lot.  
Connor got right on the way to Assistant Chief Marquardt and when he climbed out of the elevator on the top floor of the building, he noticed the muscle-bound security guard, who was watching the floor in front of Marquardt´s office.  
"Good day, may I please see your level four ID?", the bald behemoth said and Connor looked at him confused.  
"My what?"  
"You have a level four ID, right?"  
"No, I..."  
"Without you can´t enter the executive suite," the guy said.  
"Listen, I'm…"  
"Who is your supervisor? Don´t say you don´t have one."  
"I have just returned from vacation..."  
"Either you show me your ID now or I'll..."  
"Assistant Chief Marquardt is waiting for me," Connor finally said, watching Kimberly, Marquardt's secretary. The blonde tapped around on the keyboard of her computer and Connor was almost a little relieved when she finally nodded. Connor walked past the baldheaded guy and entered Marquardt's office. He was a little surprised when not only Marquardt, but all four Assistant Chiefs of Scotland Yard were waiting for him.  
"Sir," Connor began and stepped behind a chair that was almost accusatory in the middle of the room and in front of the desks of the four men.  
"Sir, I apologize, I'm late," Connor said in a firm voice, "But your new guard dog wouldn´t let me in." He had to say this remark. He was eager to learn what was going on here.  
"Agent Doyle, sit down," a bearded man said and Connor guessed that this had to be Assistant Chief McLeod. He certainly wasn´t responsible for the Field Agents, because he had never seen him before.  
"Agent, we have heard from Dr. Davison that John Doe has disappeared from the pathology," the bearded Assistant Chief began. He also called the missing corpse John Doe. So Connor concluded that the executives of Scotland Yard didn´t know about the true identity of the dead boy.  
"The body already disappeared before we...", he corrected himself and hoped nobody would notice, "Before I arrived with Dr. Davison in the pathology. Because I wasn´t there before, she was kind enough to pick me up at the main entrance." Connor was aware this was a huge lie. He worked for one year with Scotland Yard and of course he knew exactly where the pathology was located.  
"As you may have noticed, we have some new changes since your vacation," Assistant Chief Marquardt said and was biting his pencil.  
"I noticed, sir. Thank you for saying that: When will I get a level four ..."  
"The four-level IDs are only for agents with high priority," the Santa Claus Assistant Chief didn´t even allow him talking. So Connor changed the question: "What do I have to do so I´ll become an agent with high priority?"  
Some of the men in the room laughed. Connor suggested he had to belong to an illustrated circle like the assistant Chiefs did to own such an ID.  
"Agent Doyle, while you were on vacation, we have implemented a number of security zones. It was necessary to protect the memory of the dead boy, we unfortunately lost", Marquardt's words sounded almost as if he regretted that Connor had something to do with it and he knew what was coming.  
"I have nothing to do with the disappearance as same as Doctor Davison," he couldn´t imagine the doctor should have something to do with that.  
"No one says that," the Santa Claus Assistant Chief contradicted and looked at him darkly, "But we encourage you to work on your usual cases and leave the search for the missing dead to the three-level agents."  
"With all due respect, sir, last year I was involved in the case of finding the killer J…"  
"Agent Doyle, you can get a level one ID at Kimberlys desk", Marquardt said to him and took a determined look over the rim of his glasses, "That's all for today."  
Connor nodded wordlessly and left the office. At Kimberly's desk, he waited until she put a red one on his former Scotland Yard identity card.  
He was still angry about what the assistant Chiefs had just told him. Of course, Connor knew it didn´t qualify him, just because he and Lindsay had caught a serial killer last year. Previously he had brought many criminals to track. But that he has now classified to a level one agent, made him think someone tried to prevent further investigation.  
"To which departments will I have access with this card?", Connor wanted to know from Kimberly while he was still waiting for his ID.  
"To the floor on which your office is," the woman replied, without looking at him.  
"That's all?", Connor asked incredulously.  
"That's all," Kimberly confirmed.  
"What if I have to go to the archive, or to the evidence room?"  
"Then you have to ask someone from level two for help," Kimberly now told him that the red one on his ID was provided with a biometric bar code, which also served as a door opener for the new electronic locks. Connor assumed the code also conveyed a computer that storend who opened when and what door. He saw also that Kimberly had a four-level ID and wondered how she had actually earned this as an ordinary secretary.  
Now she pushed his ID on the table and Connor put it on his jacket.  
"It's a miracle I still can enter the cafeteria," he grumbled and walked passed a security guard, but this time it wasn´t the baldheaded man.  
Connor wondered if he should see Doctor Davison again and ask her to make a copy of her recent findings for Lindsay. But when he stepped out of the elevator in the basement, he saw again the baldheaded guy. Surely he would ask him again after a level four identification. And because Connor didn´t own that he decided to avoid another confrontation.

Connor looked angry when he sat down in the driver's seat of his car and Lindsay knew she had to ask him what had happened.  
"While I was on vacation, they established security zones at Scotland Yard," he said and reached for the steering wheel, "I can´t get to the upper floors, the evidence room, the laboratory, the archive, the pathology and other major departments with my ID... I was just in my office and it's a miracle they haven´t taken my computer. "  
"What do you have to do so you can return to the pathology?", Lindsay asked.  
"Nothing," Connor whispered, "I've tried. Now I even need a so-called level four ID so I can talk to my boss." Inwardly, he threatened he would go crazy if he heard the words "level four-ID" again.  
"We should go on alone," Connor suggested.  
"Hearing this from you really surprises me," Lindsay admitted when he started the engine. He left the park deck and drove to a fire station near Adelaide's. They stopped Connors car on the opposite sidewalk and walked across the street. Some firefighters were busy trying to fill the tank of a truck.  
"Good day," Lindsay finally said, Connor showed them his Scotland Yard ID. Fortunately the firefighter didn´t know what the red one on the pass meant and that he almost had no permissions. They would still have to talk to him.  
"This is Lindsay Donner, I'm Connor Doyle. We want to talk to you because of the fire at Adelaide's", Connor put his ID back into his jacket pocket. It was still freezing cold.  
"We already told the police everything we know," one of the men said.  
"And is not that much," his colleague added, who was also dressed in a thick winter jacket, "If you want to know more, you need to ask Trevor. But he disappeared since the fire. It´s as if he was swallowed up by the earth... His wife doesn´t know where he is."  
"Do you have a photo of Trevor?," Lindsay asked and when she saw the questioning look of the firemen, she added: "We really need your help."  
One of the men nodded, took off his thick gloves and asked his colleagues to hold it for him. When the man took off his glove Lindsay noticed the still oozing burn wound on his hand, which immediately began to bleed again because the top layer of skin stuck to the glove lining and has now formally demolished. She wondered why he didn´t saw a doctor.  
The man walked into the fire station to get a group photo of his unit. Then he pointed to a man in the upper left corner of the picture. "It's Trevor," he said and Lindsay thanked him. The two firefighters then apologized. They had to fill the water tank of the fire truck and Connor and Lindsay sat back in the car.  
"Trevor," Connor repeated, "According to the reports, which Scotland Yard has published in-house, we# re looking for a man named Cliff McLane. That should be the firefighter who found the body."  
"Did you say Cliff McLane?", Lindsay's brow furrowed.  
"Yes. Why do you ask?"  
"That's not his real name. Cliff McLane is a character in a science fiction series from the 60s... Probably someone faked the report. "  
"I can imagine who it was." Connor started the engine of his car. Immediately the heating inside the vehicle began to hum. "I'll take you to your detective agency."  
"This is terrible."  
"What?"  
"I hate if you investigate on your own. We are a team."  
"So are we," Connor confirmed. He would be pleased when he could keep her away from this as long as possible.

"Hi," Lindsay greeted him when Connor came in her detective agency in the late evening.  
"Hey, are you alright?", He asked and kissed her. At least they weren´t at Scotland Yard and their relationship was going well. Moreover, how Connor said to himself, they didn´t go too far in before Sue's eyes.  
"Would you stay for dinner?", Lindsay asked, "Your brother has ordered a Peking duck for us at Mister Foo." She smiled when she thought about it. She hadn´t eaten something tasty like this for a long time.  
Connor agreed and raised his hand in greeting, when he saw his brother Jack, who was sitting at Sue´s desk, too. Because Scotland Yard was like a military base now, Connor stayed here in the detective agency of his girlfriend.  
"I got news for you," Connor said, "I took a look at the register of firefighters in Edinburgh: There is only one whose first name is Trevor. The man we are looking for is called Trevor Newton." He showed her a piece of paper with a name and an address.  
"Where did you get that?", Lindsay said, "I thought you don´t have access to this information."  
"This is true. The register is open at town hall. Then I googled the address on the Internet."  
Lindsay smiled when he told her. There was no doubt he had learned from her. As a private investigator she didn´t have the same resources such as the police and Scotland Yard. She often had to solve her cases otherwise. And after she and Connor were a couple for almost one year, he seemed to have been watching her.  
"I already visited Trevor Newton´s wife and I talked to her," Connor reported and sat on her desk, "She has no idea where he is now. But she showed me something else." He handed her a copy of a bank statement. Lindsay assumed this was the bank records of the Newtons.  
"That's 10,000 pounds!", Lindsay was amazed.  
"Look where the booking comes from." Connor leaned towards her.  
The initiator of the booking was written at the beginning of the last line.  
"Scotland Yard," she said, looking at him, "He was paid to disappear," Lindsay concluded.  
"But why?"  
Mr. Foo's Delivery service was on time, brought them dinner and Connor began telling his brother and Sue about his stay at Scotland Yard and the conversation in the executive suite. "Nobody tells me what's going on," he complained, cut a spring roll and decided to continue talking, "They set up security zones at Scotland Yard. That means I only need a so-called level four ID if I want to talk to my boss… The only thing I know about the dead, is, that it has to be a male corpse. I've heard a few colleagues talking on the way to my office. "  
"Apparently they own a level four ID," said Jack, but this wasn´t funny at all and just rolled the eyes annoyed.  
"I don´t understand," Connor finally said, "What's so important about the corpse that Scotland Yard isn´t saying a word about it and the agents don´t come to the upper floors?"  
"People act as if someone had stolen the crown jewels from Edinburgh Castle," Lindsay muttered, throwing her plastic fork on her plate.  
"There are jewels in Scotland?," Connor asked and Lindsay nodded. Although he now almost lived in Edinburgh since one year, he hadn´t found time to see the crown jewels in the castle. Lindsay told him the jewels were the purest of what she had ever seen and even in Scotland there was a rock on which the kings and queens of the country were still crowned. Each time the rock was brought to London and when the ceremony was over, the rock was transported back to Edinburgh. At least they now had a plan for the coming weekend.  
"There is not even a photo of the corpse," Sue complained. As Connor had previously noted in his office, even Doctor Davison's autopsy photos were gone.  
"Isn´t there any server on which you have stored the pictures?", Lindsay asked.  
"Normally, yes," Connor replied, "but for some reason the server disappeared, too... I checked an hour ago." He had asked Tony from the IT department, where the server was, but Tony told him, he didn´t know exactly: After the server had been replaced, two unidentified men appeared and had picked it up. Maybe his boss Bill knew a little more about the matter, but Bill was on vacation and would come back again tomorrow.  
"Your problem is that all the photos and reports haven´t been stored in digital form," Connors brother Jack suspected, "And Scotland Yard won´t destroy the data. There must be a folder somewhere in which all the information is."  
"Why would Scotland Yard hide this information?"  
"So no one sees the evidence," Connor suggested, "It's about a dead child and if the photos or reports are stored once on any server, you can distribute them relatively easy or sell them even to some news agencies."  
"And then the chaos is perfect."  
"Yes," Connor nodded, "But what is so special about the dead boy so Scotland Yard denies his existence?"  
"Perhaps it was the child of a celebrity," Lindsay suggested, "Or your top boss has something to do with it and tries to be rid of someone. Maybe he was having an affair, in which a child was born. After he didn´t get rid of the boy in the flames at Adelaide's, he tried to let him disappear in an unusual way."  
"Marquardt is indeed a puppet of the other assistant chiefs, but he would never do that."  
"Why are you so sure?"  
"Because his wife died three months ago. He wouldn´t have a reason to cover up an affair." Connor looked at her very confident when he lifted his shrimp with chopsticks and finally ate it.  
"I still have my theory with the dead celebrity kid."  
"How is that possible?" Jack then asked, "How can a corpse disappear from one of the most secure buildings in the country?"  
"That's a very good question," Connor said, "There´s nothing to see in the video surveillance tapes. It´s clear that our dead boy hasn´t left the building through the door."  
"What about the emergency exits?... Or the door at the receiving site for the kitchen?", Lindsay asked.  
"These are alarm-protected doors. The security would have noticed when someone only touched the doors", now they had finished their lunch, "I can´t explain this case." He wouldn´t mind if they at least had one approach for their investigation. When they were at least told, who the victim was and why and how it had disappeared from the custody of Scotland Yard. They had no evidence. And that was their problem.

They spent the evening at Lindsay's apartment and after Brad Pitt had entertained them for a few hours with a movie, they decided to go to bed. They had been back from vacation for exactly one day and it was as if everything had changed.  
When Lindsay was asleep, she noticed she was in a big, blue-lined water tank. The faint sound of her breath echoed off the walls and she rolled her eyes a little annoyed. Obviously this was another of her visions.  
Tubes hung from the ceiling of the tank. In one corner of the seemingly infinite tank she saw a figure in an orange suit. The head of the figure was crowned by a rather bulky helmet and Lindsay could see the person had long arms, but it was very small.  
Lindsay noted that her own feet were wet because water was passed through the tubes. The figure in the orange suit was gone, she was alone and was put in the suit now. The cold water quickly rose to her knees and when she looked up, she saw some people in white gowns and with notepads in their hands staring at her through a hatch. The water carried her up to the ceiling of the tank, she pressed her hands against it and was terrified of drowning.  
"What is this place?", she asked, gasping for air and cold water ran into her mouth. The pressure around her neck was getting worse. At that moment, the illusion burst like a soap bubble and she was gasping for air in her bed.  
Connor also woke up. "What...? What's going on?", He asked. Through the darkness he could barely see. Lindsay shook her head flatly, before she got up and went to her kitchen. She poured herself a glass of water and was shocked when Connor grabbed for one of the wooden chairs noisily and sat down next to her in her kitchen. "What's wrong?", he repeated his question, "What did you see?" "How do you know I have seen something," she asked, leaning against the kitchen. She watched how Connor rolled his eyes. Of course, he sometimes wondered how she distinguished nightmares of visions, but he trusted her.  
Finally, she came to him and sat on the counter.  
"I don´t know... I thought...", she looked a little unsure down at her hands, "It looked as if I were in a testing center for aviation." She described the tank where she was and what exactly had happened.  
"Such tanks were actually used in space centers, so the astronauts were able to test their suits in zero gravity," Connor told her, "As the technology in the early sixties wasn´t fully developed, even some people have drowned in these tanks."  
She nodded wearily, because it was still the middle of the night. Outside, it was pitch dark.  
"Suddenly I was in the suit and was drowning... I thought...", she rubbed her hands over her burning eyes, "This is a terrible case. It's about a dead child I mean, I never had to do with a missing corpse, which is obviously very important." She would think a dead person didn´t cause any trouble but this was one of the worst cases, she had ever had. If she wouldn´t know better the dream of her own death signaled she should change her life.  
"It could be something else," she said. Meanwhile, Connor got up and poured her another glass of water. "Maybe it's a message. Our missing corpse could have been a pilot or an astronaut before his death."  
"It´s a ten year old boy so that's pretty unlikely... Could you see his face?"  
"No," she shook her head and emptied her glass. Then she suggested they should go back to sleep. She wondered if she was able to sleep after this terrible dream, but her eyes closed, as soon as her head sank into the soft cushions.

Despite Connors words, Sue helped in the next morning to call all pilot schools in Scotland and northern England and asked if one of their pilots was missing. After an hour of telephone service Lindsay finally reached the end of her list and called a small flight school in a town called Pitlochry. Also, there was neither a missing pilot nor a lost student. Lindsay was frustrated.  
"What about the training center of British Airways?", Sue asked and saw how Lindsay grabbed for her hair. They both sat behind their desks, only a few meters apart.  
"I don´t mind if you call there," Lindsay said and Sue grabbed again after her headset. Her boss watched as she called British Airways, had to spend some time in the waiting loop and was then connected to a lady from the service. After five minutes, she hung up. "Nothing," she sounded disappointed.  
"I would be surprised if it was differently this time."  
"We are currently chasing a ghost," Sue complained, "Are you sure we need to find a pilot?"  
"No," Lindsay shook her head, "The figure in my vision looked more like an astronaut."  
"Great Britain doesn´t have an own spacecraft authority... What about the ESA?"  
"We need Connors help" Lindsay looked at her assistant, "The ESA would never give us information." In addition to the European Space Agency and the Royal Air Force was on Lindsay's list, but it was clear that a small private investigator would never get some help.  
"Where is your boyfriend at all?", Sue asked.  
A rumbling sound of the door scarred Lindsay. It was Connor who came in with a phone on his ear. He signaled three letters in sign language and Sue translated it for Lindsay, "He´s talking to the ESA."  
Lindsay was surprised they even had the same ideas. She nodded and watched him talking. His expression didn´t suspect good news. Connor thanked the caller and hung up.  
"Good morning," Sue greeted him and handed him a cup of coffee, "That's very nice of you, that you have learned sign language, but it wouldn´t have been necessary." Sue was deaf and although she mastered lip-reading almost perfectly, communication in sign language was also an option.  
"I haven´t learned this recently. I had lessons on the OSIR Academy in Toronto in addition to Spanish, Russian and Chinese... As you may know, I've talked to the ESA."  
"And?"  
"There is no good news."  
Lindsay and Sue rolled her eyes at the same time. "Come on! Tell us about it!"  
"Right now, none of their people are missing," he told them, "But they use blue-lined water tanks in the training center." He had actually described some details from her premonition to the ESA. "Did you also described a boy with long arms?", Lindsay asked.  
"I did," said Connor, "but they don´t know someone who fits that description." His frustrated facial expression returned. "We aren´t smarter than before."

In the evening thick fog covered the crowns of the trees that Connor could see from his living room. Twilight turned the fog in deadly red and only two streetlights offered salvation from the darkness of the night.  
A knock on his door Connor pointed out to the visit, which he expected, so he hurried to open the door for his girlfriend. "Hi," she smiled when she saw him and Connor returned the greeting. Then he noticed the brown sheepdog puppy with fluffy fur on her arm.  
"Um... you… you have a dog?", he asked, they came in and she kissed him.  
"No, you have a dog," Lindsay put the puppy on the floor, "This is my gift to you."  
He wondered why. Today wasn´t his birthday, to him Christmas was still far away.  
"You give me a dog?"  
"It´s a late anniversary gift, yes", so his question was answered, "I know this is an important step. But I thought you'd like him. He is a cute little guy…. And I also did that for me: Meanwhile I´m surrounded by Canadians and Americans in my office: You, your brother and Sue… So this little dog is a natural born Scottish Sheepdog." The brown sheepdog already explored his new home.  
Connor went back to his kitchen. "We agreed that we won´t buy gifts for each other," he groused. A pot rattled and the dog lifted his head curiously.  
"I forgot," Lindsay lied because she had a premonition he wouldn´t stick to this promise, too, "But I thought you'd need a friend."  
His apartment reminded her a bit of the scenery in the evening when she had told him for the first time about her remarkable abilities to predict the future (except that they weren´t trying to take a killer now): It was nearly dark, only a few candles were burning. Connor asked her to sit down at the table, which was ready and internally Lindsay was delighted she had chosen him: Of course it was nice that Connor treaded her like a princess and could cook, but this wasn´t the reason why he had become her partner in private and professional matters. The reason was that he was the most sincere person who had ever met her.  
They began to eat and Lindsay noticed his face and realized he didn´t seem to be very happy. "What's wrong?", she finally asked, "Do you have an animal allergy?"  
"No, but I didn´t wanted to have a dog again."  
From this she concluded he had ever had a dog and she was happy to hear the story.  
"Do you remind the aircraft carrier on which you met Robert Jones?", He gave her a glass of red wine.  
"Reluctantly, but yes. I remember."  
"It happened when I was with the Navy. The aircraft carrier had applied for two weeks in a Mexican port. There were quite a few straying dogs that were fed with the remains of the kitchen. Call me sentimental, but I took care of one of the dogs and I gave him a name. When the aircraft carrier left the port, the admiral ordered to kill the dogs with rat poison. The admiral was an idiot if I may say that and I think he hated dogs because he was bitten once on a excursion... ", Connor told and Lindsay nodded.  
"I couldn´t hurt Domingo, this was the name I gave the dog, so I brought him to my cabin and hid him for the rest of the trip, supplied him secretly with food waste from kitchen and walked at night with him on the deck. I taught him tricks and someday the dog knew, when the admiral was near and he had to hide. Domingo was pretty smart", Connor turned his wine glass in his hands, "We played this game for almost a year."  
"The admiral noticed something?"  
"No. But I must admit I had help from the other Navy officers... When I got home, Domingo stayed with me. Because he was a very old dog, he died two years later. But all the time he was with me, I never had a better friend."  
This statement brought tears in Lindsay's eyes. She didn´t know if it was the story which convinced her once more that Connor had a good heart, or if it was the friendship between human and animal.  
"I have a present for you," Connor said, suddenly getting up. She watched when he went upstairs and came back two minutes later with a black box. "This is for you."  
Lindsay pulled at the purple ribbon that crowned the box. She knew he hadn´t giftwrapped it.  
"This is...", she looked at him incredulously, when she took a device in the size of a remote control out of the box, "This is a stun gun. What I do with it?" A voice in her head couldn´t believe he gave her such an unromantic gift for their anniversary. She never came across a man who gave her a weapon.  
"I thought you could use this", Connor defended himself. Because she had no current firearms license it wasn´t allowed as a private investigator to carry a handgun. And a stun gun was better as defense than nothing.  
"I hope you still have the receipt," she grumbled, crossing her arms defiantly in front of the chest. She wondered whether she should take the puppy to her home and keep it until he gave her a beautiful gift.  
"Well, I...", Connor launched into an explanation, but his ringing cell phone interrupted him. He apologized to Lindsay and went into his kitchen, where he had placed the phone. "That's typical for you," she called after him, but Connor decided to ignore.  
Lindsay kept an eye on him while he talked. The expression on his face as he hung up worried her a little. "What happened?", she asked and thought he looked almost panicked.  
"We gotta go," Connor slaked the candle that was on the table.  
"Where?"  
"We are now getting some answers to the question what is so special about the missing corpse."  
After he told her that, she also got up and followed him to the door, where she received her jacket. She asked what they should do with the dog and Connor went back to his apartment again. He took the dog and gave it to Mrs. Okroy, an elderly lady who lived in the opposite apartment.  
On the way to the car Lindsay wanted to know where they would go, but Connor only replied she would find out soon enough. They drove halfway across town and Connor finally pulled a ticket to a parking garage. "What are we doing here?", Lindsay wanted to know from him.  
"We´ll met a colleague of mine. Let's say he doesn´t agree with the things that currently take place at Scotland Yard and is willing to help me."  
She realized what it meant: He investigated without her.  
Connor put his car on a deserted parking deck and turned off the headlights. The digital clock showed exactly 8:30 p.m. and now it was pitch dark around them.  
"If now someone shoots us, there not even witnesses," Lindsay thought a little frustrated. She looked at Connor surprised when he reached for the car door and got out.  
"You stay here," he said good-bye to her, slamming the door behind him and went around the car. Lindsay unfastened her seat belt and tried to look up to him as long as she could. Finally, he disappeared in the darkness. Lindsay was worried and shut down the passenger window, so she could listen to the conversation between Connor and his secret informants. But she heard nothing. The silence was almost eerie: she only heard a slight noise. Probably it came from the few passing cars.  
Suddenly, someone ripped the door on the driver's side and the light inside the car intervened. Lindsay was shocked for a moment. Finally, Connor sat behind the steering wheel and started the engine. Lindsay thought about what she should say now. Only when they were on the main road towards the city center, she had arranged her thoughts. "Why do you have secrets?"  
Connor knew she was referring to his secret informants. "The less people will get involved in the affair, the better," he replied.  
"What?," she didn´t believe what she heard, "I am involved, too," she reminded him, "So: Who did you meet?"  
"A colleague who wants to help us. I told you." For the rest of the trip, he didn´t say a word to her. Only when he parked his car in the Scotland Yard garage and entered the elevator with her, he gave her an ID and told her that she shouldn´t wear it too obvious. She guessed why, as soon as she looked at the card a little more. "It's fake!", she stated horrified. The woman in the photo looked a bit similar with her blond hair. In the upper left corner of the pass there was a red four.  
This would have terrible consequences if someone ever found out. She only hoped no one saw them when they were using fake four-level IDs.  
"What do we do now?", she asked quietly. As she walked beside him, she kept looking nervously at the ceiling of the room and tried to find out if there was a surveillance camera.  
"Behave normally," he said to her, "We go to the archives and look at the record of John Doe." They got back into the elevator and Connor pressed the button number five.  
"Okay, that's the plan," Connor began as soon as the doors of the elevator had closed, "We go to the fifth floor. There, you leave the elevator. I go to the twelfth floor and you're coming about five minutes later."  
She nodded. So they wanted to avoid that someone produced a relationship between them, in case anyone found out they had come to Scotland Yard together.  
On the fifth floor got out Lindsay, went to the ladies room and waited there even seven minutes. Lindsay then took the elevator to the twelfth floor of the Scotland Yard building.  
Connor thought it took forever until the elevator finally arrived and Lindsay got out.  
"I thought you got lost," Connor told her and they walked down a sterile-looking corridor.  
"I thought it´s wise to wait a little longer," Lindsay apologized. She saw the person who was staying at the door of the archive first, pushing Connor into a corridor leading to the west wing. There they stopped and Lindsay looked again around the corner.  
"That's the mayor," she muttered, "What's he doing here?" It was even more questionable, why he had a level four identification.  
She saw how the mayor locked the door to the archive and then came in their direction. He hadn´t seen them, but walked past them and went down the hall to the elevator.  
"Who knows, maybe your top boss really has nothing to do with this case," Lindsay suspected.  
"He´s definitely on our side."  
"How do you know?"  
"Maybe you´ll be a little surprised, but Marquardt was the one who gave me the IDs."  
Lindsay was actually a little surprised.  
She and Connor made their way to the main door of the Archives, where they went by and finally stopped in front of an emergency exit instead. Connor took a key from his pocket and looked around searchingly. The emergency exits had been sealed by a standard key and weren´t prepared for the new cards. What sense it made to lock an emergency exit, was a different matter.  
"You have a key?", Lindsay asked a little disbelieving.  
"Don´t remind me. This key and our false identity cards cost me a lot ", he realized she was really interested in what he meant, "I traded with my new ticket of Hibernian Edinburgh." He hoped that the ticket of a football club was worth it. In Canada soccer was less popular and Connor had just began to like his new British hobby.  
The air in the archive was stuffy and hot. The filing cabinets were lined up against each other in the flickering light, like an army. Before they walked to the cabinets to search for reports, Connor went to a control switch to turn off the video surveillance. The flashing green light of the monitoring system was finally red.  
"Let's go. We have ten minutes before someone will notice that the monitoring system failed", Connor whispered to her. But where should they look? The files were sorted by alphabet. She didn´t know under what name the missing body was positioned.  
First, Connor walked to a copier and shoved his hand under the tray, which housed the printing surface. The glass plate was still warm. He believed that the mayor had copied a good amount of documentation.  
"Where should we look for the file?", Lindsay wanted to know and turned on her flashlight.  
"Let's try D", Connor suggested and remembered his conversation with the assistant Chiefs, "Maybe he is filed under John Doe."  
The persons whose names began with D were sorted in corridor four and Lindsay found the cabinet immediately. She wasn´t a little surprised that the drawer was not locked. Apparently the mayor was looking for the same file. Her fingers slid fast through the individual folders, when she read the names and quietly reciting the alphabet.  
"John Doe. Here it is!", Lindsay cried, pulled a gray folder from the drawer and looked again at the door. The record of John Doe was pretty thick. Probably in the last few years, several men had appeared in Scotland, who didn´t know their real names. Lindsay therefore flipped to the last chapter of the book. The last chapter consisted of a few stapled police reports, an autopsy report and some photos. "The date on the file is only a few days ago," Lindsay said, when the flashlight shone on the paper. "In Doctor Davison's autopsy report is written that it´s a male body, about ten years old, 1.35 meters tall... He had scoliosis and Doctor Davison wrote he has remarkably long limbs..."  
"What´s scoliosis?", Connor wanted to know while he was looking at the door.  
"A curved spine..."  
"A curved spine and long limbs? Sounds like he was an alien", it was supposed to be a joke, but they didn´t laugh," Reminds me of the form, which you saw in your dream."  
"Yeah, me too." While Lindsay read the autopsy report her finger scurried along the lines, "It says our missing dead suffers on Patau syndrome."  
"What does that mean?", Connor asked.  
"Trisomy 13th. Some people with Patau syndrome have the heart on the other side of the body while the other organs are created as usual", she told him in a whisper.  
"How do you know all this?"  
"My mother suffered from scoliosis and this wasn´t nice. Even after the surgery, she looked awful."  
A clicking noise at the door startled Connor. He and Lindsay grabbed simultaneously form the last pages of John Doe´s record and rushed to the emergency exit, through which they had entered.

Fin

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X


	5. Fire Storm Ch 2

Title: Fire Storm Chapter 2  
Author: Dancing Star  
Crossover: PSI Factor / Sue Thomas FBEye  
Pairing: Connor / Lindsay, Jack / Sue  
Rating: 16  
Category: AU, Crime, Mystery, Romance  
Content: Lindsay and Connor get into a dangerous chase.  
Note: I own all rights to this story. The characters are not mine, however. If the story sounds familiar: congratulations. You have found me. :-)

Fire Storm Chapter 2

It wasn´t a problem to leave Scotland Yard unnoticed in the dark night. Nevertheless, Lindsay asked herself who had been the person who almost caught them in the archive.  
Connor drove his car along Bond Street when Lindsay's cell phone rang. "It's Sue," she said when she looked at the screen.  
"Where are you?", Sue asked impatiently.  
"We just come from the archives of Scotland Yard and now we´re on the way to my detective agency," Lindsay activated the speaker on her phone so Connor could also follow the conversation.  
"And? What did you find out?", Sue sounded excited.  
Lindsay turned on the light inside the car and opened the file of John Doe. "He had scoliosis and Trisomy 13th. Here´s also written osteoporosis is suspected and Doctor Davison found an excessively small stomach..."  
"Seems as if the missing corpse was suffering to all possible diseases when he was alive," Sue suggested, "Can you photograph the copies with your mobile phone and e-mail me?"  
Lindsay tried to answer, but Connor caught her word: "It´s not the copies. Lindsay did steal the original file."  
It took a moment for Sue to read Connors words from her teletypewriter. "She did what? Lindsay, this is a crime!"  
"It's not the entire file of John Doe, but only a part, namely, the final chapter," she apologized, "A little more info wouldn´t hurt us."  
Connor could understand that Marquardt had problems with the press and the other assistant Chiefs but why setting up restricted zones everywhere? He hated the fact they treated him like an outsider.  
"That's not my fault!", Lindsay defended herself. She couldn´t help that all the photos haven´t been digitized.  
"Is there any trouble in paradise?", Sue on the other end of the line wanted to know.  
"No," Lindsay said. She found it wasn´t Sues business and she didn´t need to know that Lindsay was a little upset with Connor because he had dared to give her a stun gun for their first anniversary. Sure, he thought it was a good idea, but he could have bought a different gift.  
Accidentally, her view brushed the mirrors of the car. "Connor, move to the left," Lindsay told her boyfriend.  
"Why? Then we´ll drive around the block."  
"My goodness, do it!"  
Connor rolled his eyes and did what she wanted. He turned his car into the next street then drove left again. Lindsay was sure now: During the maneuver she had seen a black car that followed them, in a few meters distance.  
"Someone´s following us," she said now firmly in her cell phone.  
"Can you see the license plate?", Sue asked worried.  
"No. The lights fade too much." She assumed their pursuer was the same person who had almost caught them in the archive where they stole the John Doe file.  
"Connor, drive a little slower. Maybe...", she was interrupted by a bullet, which tore away the mirror. Lindsay screamed and it took a second to hear Sue´s response: Her assistant asked was wrong.  
"Someone shot at us!", Lindsay cried. Another bullet hit the rear window, which shattered into a thousand pieces. Connor hit the accelerator of his car almost all the way. He drove through a red light and nearly collided with a Porsche and a cyclist. At the last second he avoided a crash and the Porsche honked angrily.  
Lindsay turned around. "The car is still behind us!," she cried. She saw that the vehicle, which was following them, also raced through the red light and the other cars at the intersection stopped.  
Because the rear window was broken the usual late-night traffic noises rose inside the car, so it was almost impossible for Connor to understand her. "Sue, you still there?", Lindsay cried in her cell phone while she still observed the chaser vehicle. Her assistant confirmed.  
"Sue, I can see the car! It's a black Pontiac with a Firebird- symbol on the front!", she shouted into her phone.  
"What?", Connor next to her in the driving seat asked, but she didn´t pay him a little attention. In this moment of carelessness, he almost collided with a truck. Lindsay decided she no longer wanted to see if they were still followed by the car: She already saw it in the rearview mirror. Lindsay still didn´t understand why they were followed. Did all this happen because of a file which they had taken from the Archives of Scotland Yard?  
"What do we do now?", Connor asked. He couldn´t get rid of the black Pontiac. The tires of his car squealed when Connor slowed at the intersection of Columba Road and the wheels of the car stopped for a second, so now they drove towards the outskirts. He thought it was better if they chase will be continued in a place where fewer people were in danger, instead on a one of the busiest streets in the city.  
"Give me your gun!"  
"What?"  
"Give me your gun!", Lindsay yelled and took his gun. Connor had to turn again and during the violent change of direction of the car, the gun fell from her hands and landed in the footwell of the rear seats. She bent down and tried to get the weapon, but it wasn´t in her reach. So she tried to come up with another plan. "How much cash do you have with you?"  
"Why do you want to know this?", Connor didn´t understand.  
"Maybe we need to get out of the city and hide somewhere until we know what's going on here," Lindsay cried to him. If they paid with credit cards, her pursuers might know where they were. She had no idea if they already monitored their bank accounts, but in case of doubt it was always better to expect.  
She turned around and saw the black Pontiac no longer followed them. Relieved, she exhaled. But she realized she had been looking forward a little too early when a bullet hit the mirrors on Connors side.  
A deafening noise and the accompanying impact hit Connor, shot through the windscreen and through the bullet hole the glass it now looked like as if it was covered by a spider web. He could feel the steering wheel shaking in his hands. "Connor!", Lindsay grabbed the steering wheel, because otherwise they would have hit a streetlight. She screamed at him he should drive faster. She wasn´t interested at the moment in why he reached after his right arm in pain. If they wouldn´t get rid of this madman in the Pontiac, they probably could never be interested in something. Their car sped down the street and led on to another crossroad. The speedometer needle quivered and Lindsay finally heard a faint bang behind them. She turned around for a brief moment, which was already enough to see that the tail of the black Pontiac was struck by a van, the car turned and finally stopped at the intersection.  
"We have to leave!," Lindsay said to Connor. They could also take a closer look to the John Doe file in a different location, they didn´t have to go to her detective agency. Connor nodded and while he was still in pain and sat in the driver's seat he had the foot on the accelerator, Lindsay drove the car. As soon as they were out of town, they really had to change their seats.

In school, when Lindsay was a little girl she once heard the story of the Christmas star that guided the Three Kings from the Orient the way to Jesus. She thought she and Connor were now almost in the same situation, but they weren´t looking for the Messiah. They searched for a much more secure accommodation. However, each building they drove past in this godforsaken loneliness of southern Scotland was nothing more than a gas station or a barn whose roof was already full of leaks.  
They had been driving for almost two hours on a lonely country road, when suddenly the engine of the car was coughing. "The customer service is to become due in three weeks," Connor muttered, who was sitting beside her on the passenger seat and looked tired, "I should have guessed that my broken fuel gauge will be my end someday."  
"You think this is funny, huh?", with the last power of the vehicle, she stopped Connors Audi on the breakdown lane and took the key.  
"Shall we call a breakdown service?", she asked, but he shook his head.  
"No. If someone is monitoring our phones, they will know where to find us."  
She nodded in agreement. She hadn´t thought about that. So she turned off her mobile phone. In the age of GPS, it was certainly very easy to locate them with their mobile phones.  
Her eyes fell on the John Doe file which was still in the footwell of the passenger.  
"You don´t happen to have a spare canister in the trunk, right?"  
"No, sorry." His injury still hurt. He had never been shot before and he had never expected the burning pain would be so incredibly bad. Connor was tired, he was cold and he felt as if the wound was only pursuing one goal, namely to devour him from the inside out.  
"Then we have to find a village with a car factory or a gas station." Lindsay grabbed the file, put it in her purse and got out then. She opened the door behind the driver's door and grabbed Connor's gun then put it also in her purse. Lindsay walked around the Audi and helped Connor then getting out.  
The ground beneath their feet was wet and slippery. Besides, it was cold.  
"Wait, I'll give you my jacket," Connor offered and took off his black jacket. Lindsay saw the bloodstain which emerged on his sleeve. "You´re shot," she stated, trying to sound calm, "Didn´t you notice?"  
"No," he lied.  
"You should keep your jacket," she suggested, grabbed his fine arm and put it around her shoulders. They hastened to get away from the car. Together they staggered across the muddy field that was located directly next to the road. Although it had been quite cold the last few nights, it had been raining and a storm had turned the ground into a swamp.  
After crossing the field, they reached a forest. Cold fog enveloped the trees in an impenetrable veil. "Where are we?", Connor wanted to know from her.  
"I don´t know exactly," she guessed they had come about 150 miles before the car had broken down.  
Lindsay and Connor reached the end of the forest and stopped. "Down there are lights," Connor muttered. He guessed between the fog had to be a small village. "We should see if anyone can help us," Lindsay suggested and they hobbled on. It started to rain and the cold drops of water rained down on them like pinpricks.  
Finally, they reached a small farm and heard a dog barking. Shortly after, a door to the main house opened and a man in a raincoat came out. In his hand he held a shotgun.  
"Who are you?", A clattering noise told Lindsay the man had just loaded his gun and was watching them from his porch. Apparently people out here weren´t accustomed to visits.  
"My boyfriend got shot. Please help us", Lindsay tried not to cry. Her feet were ice lumps and Connors weight, which rested on her shoulder, was getting heavier.  
"Come in," the man leaned his rifle against the wall, stood next to Connor and helped Lindsay to bring him inside a small building next to the main house. He turned on the light and Connor sat on a kind of examination table. Then he went to a medicine cabinet.  
"What is this place?", Lindsay asked when she discovered many animal photographs on the walls. Above the entrance were large antlers.  
"I'm a vet." He took out a pair of sterile pliers, scissors and gloves. Then he told Connor he should roll up his sleeve so he could look at the wound.  
"If you're a vet, wouldn´t it be wiser to see to a real doctor?"  
"The next real doctor, as you call it, is 100 miles away," the man shook his head when he saw Lindsay's horrified expression, "Fateburry is a pretty empty place. I'm the vet, doctor, dentist."  
Lindsay thought that a diploma didn´t make miracle healer out of a jerk, but apparently he was one out here in the deserted Fateburry. She had never heard about this place before.  
"...And I'm also a hunter and mechanic," the man added.  
"That explains the huge antlers on your door," Connor muttered, wincing when the man touched his arm.  
"It's just a glazing shot," the vet said, "I will disinfect the wound... You want to tell me how this happened?" He reached for a syringe with a narcotic.  
"You use drugs for animals?", Lindsay asked.  
"Good God, no. This can be used for humans and animals… I guess", he stabbed the syringe with lighter fluid in Connor's arm, "You work with Scotland Yard, right?"  
"How'd you know?", The skin around Connors wound began to become numb.  
"Your ID. What is your name?"  
"This is Lindsay, I'm Connor." With his uninjured hand Connor picked up his fake level four passport and pulled it from his jacket.  
"My name is Simon," he paused for a while. "And?... Are you in trouble?"  
"Helping us isn´t illegal," Connor objected, "We have been involved in an investigation at Edinburgh. Then someone turned the tables and before we knew, we were being followed and got into a gunfight."  
"Probably it´s because of the missing corpse," Simon suggested.  
"You know about that?"  
"Because of the newspaper," he nodded and Lindsay remembered Sue had already told her.  
"I can show you the today´s headline." He put away the gauze, with which he had disinfected Connors wound and began to sew. "It was on the front page of the newspaper and supposedly there will be a leak at Scotland Yard... Well, looks like as if one of your colleagues can´t shut his or her mouth."  
"Marquardt", Connor and Lindsay simultaneously said. Connor shook his head. "I don´t understand," he muttered, "At first, he demoted me to a level one agent and tells me, I should stay out of those things and then he gives me a false ID while he secretly talks to the press. What´s wrong?", he winced as Simon hit a part of the skin with the needle that wasn´t numb.  
"Maybe this Marquardt is working for the other side," Simon suggested and looked at her.  
"The other side? Who's that?", Lindsay walked restlessly up and down before the examination table on which Connor sat.  
Simon now put his needle and sterile scissors into a kidney dish, adjusted a bandage on the wound and gave him antibiotics. "When was your last tetanus shot?", he asked Connor, but he had no idea. Doctor Simon advised him to see a real doctor soon (He didn´t have a tetanus vaccine, which he could give a human) but for now, he should lie down for a while.  
"You can stay here," Simon suggested, "My wife owns a small pension, but currently there is no season." He cleaned up his tools and took them to a small building opposite the main house. Before Simon opened the front door to the apartment, he pulled open the metal door to an electrical box and pressed a few buttons. Then they entered.  
The apartment was very rustic and still had an old CRT- TV. Simon told them to wait a second. Outside it began to rain again and Simon really came back in one minute. "This are spare clothes from my surgery," he told them and handed Connor a stack of clothes, "It isn´t the newest, but it´s still fine... If you want I'll give your jacket to my wife to make it clean until tomorrow. Whatever you both want to do: You shouldn´t look like you just returned from a potato crop." Because they had walked across a muddy field, their pants legs and shoes were covered with mud.  
Lindsay almost laughed about the remark. She noticed how Connor got his fake ID out off his jacket and handed the jacket finally to Simon.  
"You have dry clothes, but what about me?", Lindsay asked while Connor took the stack of jeans and a few shirts again. "It´s enough for both of us," he told her, handing her a blue tartan shirt.  
"Almost like home," she murmured and let him enter the adjoining bathroom first. He called out to her that in the apartment was even had a tub. Lindsay vowed to take the chance and use the bath tub today.  
A little later, Connor was still in the bathroom, there was a knock at the door and Lindsay wondered if that maybe was the person in the black Pontiac who had already followed them on Bond Street in Edinburgh. Finally, she calmed herself with the fact the person wouldn´t knock, then. She grabbed her still wet pants, lying beside her purse and the John Doe file on a chair, and put it on under her dry tartan shirt which was at least two sizes too big. Lindsay waited a moment and grabbed Connor's weapon she hid behind her back. If she really had to use the gun, she had a problem because the gunpowder inside the weapon still had to be wet. So she had to hope that her potential attacker didn´t know.  
She inhaled deeply then pulled open the door slowly.  
Outside it was still raining and a lightning flashed above Fateburry while she saw how Simon went back to his house with an umbrella in his hand. Lindsay thought it was pretty careless when she discovered the box which Simon had parked outside her door. Apparently, his wife had been able to do without a few clothes, too. As promised on the box was today's paper. "Corpse at Scotland Yard gone-Who is the mole?" was the headline. She thought how depressing it was.  
The bathroom door opened and Connor came out. The edge of his shirt was hardly covering the bandage Simon had created. "How are you feeling?", Lindsay wanted to know from him.  
"Better", he remained standing in front of her and also threw a glance at the newspaper. "Who is the mole?," he repeated the headline, "The question should rather be called: What´s going on?"  
She nodded wearily and apologized she quickly wanted to take a bath before she went to sleep. The fabric of the tartan shirt smelled like a moth pillow, so Lindsay knew the shirt wasn´t worn for a long time. She couldn´t wait to get rid of the thing.  
"Wait a second," Connor stopped her, took the paper from her hand and pushed away one of the blond strands that framed her face. It needs no explanation to why he kissed her now. Lovingly she returned the kiss and grabbed his wrists. "Not today," she murmured. She had to stop him before the night ended like he wanted it. If they were still in trouble, she didn´t want that someone caught them in such a private situation. Staying in this place was even enough.  
"I'm tired," she apologized and entered the bathroom, "Go to sleep." She slowly closed the door behind him and watched when Connor stared at her incredulously.

Simon had told them yesterday to change Connors bandage. In addition to his wife´s spare clothes he put another bandage on the package he had left on their doorstep. Like Simon had promised Connors Jacket was clean again this morning: It was wrapped in a plastic bag on their doorstep, too. Lindsay noticed something else had to be in the bag, because when she grabbed Connor's jacket, she saw a note. It was a note from Simon, who told them they could have tea and backed beans for breakfast. Then she found a box. When she felt the velvet in her hand, her curiosity was piqued. She glanced inside the red box and when he saw the ring, her heart stopped for a second. This wasn´t just any ring: The jewel looked like an engagement ring, princess cut, which had cost really much money.  
Lindsay closed the box. They couldn´t get married, she thought. They didn´t even shared an apartment, at least not properly. Just because she had deposited some clothes with him, it didn´t mean... The next moment, she wondered what she should say if Connor actually asked her. Of course she loved him and wanted to be with him, but she had no idea if they were ready. Would they ever be ready?  
"Lindsay!", Connor called to her and she put the velvet box hastily back into his jacket pocket.  
"I'm coming!", she threw the jacket on a chair and went to him to the bathroom. She tried to hide her knowing about the ring when she sat down next to him on the edge of the bath tube in order to renew his patch.  
"I'm sorry," Connor suddenly said to her.  
"What?", She had no idea what he was talking, but her hands were shaking nervously. No matter what he wanted to apologize, she hoped it wasn´t reconciled to the marriage proposal.  
"I'm sorry I got you involved in this whole thing. The security zones at Scotland Yard, the secrets of the assistant Chiefs, the mysterious dead boy... All this has led us here. We're being followed and I have no idea how to get out of this situation."  
"This is not your fault. Each agent would have done the same."  
"But I got you involved in this," he shook his head.  
"We're a team," she smiled and finished the bandage- chancing, "We are like Sherlock Holmes and Watson."  
"Watson was a doctor."  
"And?"  
"You're not a doctor," he said and she gave him a pat on the shoulder when she realized what that meant. Then she got up. "I always thought I´m Sherlock Holmes and you were Doctor Watson."  
"But the two were never dating each other," he put on his shirt, put his gun in his belt and went with her to the main house to Simon and his wife. It was still hard not to tell him she knew about his planned proposal, but the fact he hadn´t asked calmed her down. For a second she wondered if what they shared, perhaps wasn´t enough for a life together.  
Simon's wife was called Rachel and when she saw Lindsay, she found her old blouse and her pants suited her very well. Rachel told the clothes were left from a time when her figure was much better. Three children, who now all lived in London, had led to the store of old clothes on the attic. "Keep the stuff if you want," Rachel said to Lindsay, when she sat down at the breakfast table.  
"Thank you. My things look ruined after our excursion through the woods", Lindsay took a sip of black tea. She noticed a painting on the wall which showed the farm. "This is a very pretty picture above the fireplace," Lindsay said.  
"Thank you, I painted the picture." Rachel was obviously flattered. The woman offered Lindsay a piece of her lemon pie, when a loud bang in the kitchen interrupted them. Rachel wondered if she had forgotten to turn off one of her kitchen appliances and got up. Simon was already on the way to the kitchen. Another blast made Simon stepping back. He fell to the ground and tried to get up again. Rachel screamed when she saw the bullet wound on the shoulder of her husband: blood stained his shirt red and ran over his chest like a waterfall.  
"Simon!", Rachel reached out to him. A bullet hit her in the middle of the chest, so she fell into the chair.  
Simon hurried to Rachel to help her, but at that moment he was hit by another bullet, then he lay motionless on the ground. In a corner of her eye Lindsay was watching Connor who also avoided a bullet. Rachel's picture was torn apart in a hail of bullets like an insignificant target. The bullets stuck in the wood paneling of the wall.  
With a graceful curve Connor tore Lindsay down. They lay there until the shooting had stopped. But then they heard steps. The front door was broken open and a figure dressed in black entered the house. Lindsay couldn´t see the person's face, because it was hidden under a black ski mask. She got up to the chimney, reaching for the something with which she could defend herself and Connor.  
The last thing Lindsay could remember was how the masked person drew back an arm and stroke them down with a heavy knock.

When Lindsay woke up and tried to inhale the dust broke into her windpipe and made her coughing. When she had calmed down a bit, she raised her head. She was lying on a wooden floor, which was covered with a thick layer of dust. Her hands and ankles were tied to each other. How long had she been unconscious? By flashlight she saw Connor: He was also lying on the floor and couldn´t barely move. And where was his gun?  
"Where are we?", Lindsay asked and in that moment, a tall, slender figure spun around.  
"You're awake," the woman observed and looked at her.  
"Who are you?", Lindsay asked. She shouldn´t come with the excuse she was her worst nightmare. The woman grabbed a dusty chair, pulled it close and sat down.  
"I'm Cindy Bond."  
"You are American," Connor noted at her accent. He had also known, when Lindsay told Sue during the chase on Bond Street their pursuer was driving a Pontiac with Firebird- logo. These cars were made in America.  
"Actually, I'm a bounty hunter," Cindy admitted. She came from Nevada and there she hunted people, who were released on bail, but didn´t repay and chased men who left their wives with five children and didn´t pay money. Cindy had seen the scum many times.  
"The truth is, Miss Donner and Mr. Doyle...", she paused and looked at a pocket knife in her hands. Lindsay wondered what she should do know. "The truth is that a pretty high bounty has been placed on you both. It was so high I couldn´t resist."  
"Will you kill us now?"  
"No," her answer sounded like the growl of a cat, "Alive, you´re worth much more. Although my client said he doesn´t care if I deliver you dead or alive, but deep inside I felt he has to pick a bone with you."  
"How high is the bounty?"  
"Two million pounds," Cindy said.  
"Wow," Connor exclaimed and didn´t know if he should laugh, "And all that just because we have stolen an autopsy report."  
"I hope the money is it worth to have killed two innocent people," Lindsay hissed. There was one another question: "Who sent you?"  
"You are about so solve a really big case," Cindy Bond said instead. She closed her pocket knife and whipped it in her pocket.  
"What will happen to us?", Lindsay said, while Cindy roughly grabbed her ankles and thus helped her to sit up.  
"I'll take you back to Edinburgh, get my reward and fly back to America."

It was another night when Cindy both rudely sat onto the back seat of a vehicle and took them to Edinburgh. Because the Pontiac was only a car with three doors, it wasn´t easy to get sit tied on the back seat. Lindsay and Connor assumed that Cindy wanted to use the cover of darkness, so nobody saw them. So Lindsay suspected that except for Cindy, other bounty hunters could be following them.  
On the way back to Edinburgh, they had to stop at a gas station and Cindy let them alone in a car. Of course, she locked the doors when she went to pay. Connor and Lindsay watched the bounty hunter and as soon as she entered the small house, in which the cashier was housed, they tried to open their bonds. They were still tied up with their hands to each other, what didn´t make it easier to sit together on the back seat.  
"We should get out," Connor suggested, "Can you reach my ankles?" He slid his hands down a bit so she could reach for his bonds.  
"Yes, but ... I can´t open it," she said when she fumbled for Connor's hands. They were tied with plastic cable ties. Cindy was a professional. They had no chance to escape.  
"Do you have your stun gun with you?", he asked. The plastic strip cut into his skin.  
"Of course not," she was still hurt he even dared to make her such a gift. She also wondered how he wanted to free them. Did he want to melt the cable ties? Lindsay didn´t even know if this was possible.  
Lindsay saw that Cindy seemed to have a pleasant conversation to the cashier: She smiled kindly then she left the small building.  
"Stop it," Lindsay said to Connor, "She's coming back."  
Connor immediately stopped opening their handcuffs. The driver's door of the old car opened. The gas station lighting made Cindy's hair shine like a dangerous sea of flames, forming a strong contrast to her pale skin and her black leather clothes. "Almost like Snow White", Lindsay thought mockingly while Cindy sat down on the driver's seat. The steering wheel was on the left side of the car, so Cindy had imported her own car to the UK. The old Pontiac was pretty run down from the inside. She couldn´t tell how old the vehicle might have been and if they could get any benefit from it.  
Cindy turned the key and the engine started to cough. Then they left the gas station and drove down a road. The full moon turned a field of dried grasses in a meadow of bright straw.  
"Cindy Bond. What kind of name is that?", Lindsay from the backseat said," Sounds like you're a topless dancer from a seedy strip club in Vegas."  
Cindy stared in the rearview mirror and saw the scowl with which Lindsay looked at her. "I already heard this," she coolly said. Cindy had seen through it immediately. It wasn´t the first time people tried to provoke her and she wouldn´t certainly respond. Usually she didn´t hesitate to be violent, but she never did this to her prey. You never knew what you might still need.  
"What does your family say about your job in this business?", Lindsay asked again and Connor looked at her uncertainly.  
"I have no family," Cindy replied, who had heard such insults several times. This made her job a lot easier. A family made her vulnerable and could be used against her. "I'm a lone wolf," the bounty hunter continued and looked again in the mirror, "Like James Bond... We even have the same last name." She smiled a little. It was rare she allowed herself such sentimentalities.  
A brief pause.  
"You know, what's the difference to you and James Bond?", Connor finally wanted to know and Cindy shrugged, looking forward to hearing his answer, "James Bond is one of the good guys."

After the car was refueled, the next problem crept in: Cindy cursed, when a burst tire stopped her Pontiac remaining on the roadside. Fortunately tonight was a full moon. She wouldn´t need illumination.  
With her pistol she shooed Connor and Lindsay formally from the back seat of the car.  
"I need to change the tire," she explained to them, "Wait here." She didn´t want to heave the heavy car on the car-jack when two people sat in there and her prey wasn´t looking like they could find their way out here without any orientation and escape anyway.  
"If you run away, you are dead within five seconds" She showed them the gun, which she put into her belt. "Sit down on the overturned tree trunk," Cindy pointed to a group of trees that had lined up neatly besides the road.  
It was much too cold to sit outside, but Cindy insisted they should go out of the car when she had to changed tires. "It's too cold," Lindsay complained.  
"What shall I do otherwise?", Cindy asked back.  
"A little campfire." There it was again. Lindsay's voice sounded provocative again.  
Cindy rolled her eyes annoyed, gathered some twigs and dead branches and lit them with a lighter. "If you run away, you will be dead in five seconds," she repeated, then turned around to her car.  
It took half an hour, until she had replaced the flat tire with the spare wheel. "I'm done. We can drive on", she harshly said, but Connor and Lindsay didn´t get up. Cindy noticed and went back to the campfire. "All right," Cindy cut the ties with a knife and sat down on a fallen tree trunk. She picked up a twig and stared silently into the flames of the campfire.  
Lindsay massaged her aching wrists, which were covered with red welts because of cable tie.  
"I have read the autopsy report, which you have spoken...", Cindy suddenly began, "The corpse was a very, very sick person."  
"We know..."  
"It's not the stolen autopsy report, because someone has placed a bounty on you."  
"Why then?," Connor asked.  
"Let's say: You were caught and the person you might have seen was busy with the destruction of evidences... I can´t judge if this is true. Anyone who is paying me is my friend."  
Connor and Lindsay thought about whom Cindy might was talking. "The Mayor," Lindsay recalled, "Has he seen us in the archive?"  
"He did," Cindy said when she continued to poke the branch into the earth, "That's why he wants to get rid of you both. You might discover his secret."  
"Did he say that?", Lindsay asked.  
"Not directly," Cindy laughed softly, "But I dealed often enough with criminals and I know if someone has something to hide."  
Lindsay couldn´t believe what she was hearing: Cindy apparently knew the mayor had something to hide and yet she hunted for him. And of course the mayor knew them: After she and Connor had caught a killer last year mayor Wildman had given them a city order in a ceremony at City Hall.  
"You know the mayor could be responsible under certain circumstances for the disappearance of the body and you take his money?"  
"Who says I do that? I told you you´re a discovering something important. What if I wanna be part of this thing?", Cindy said and Lindsay decided to take the chance. "Please help us," she said, "In addition to the body a firefighter has disappeared which was paid by Scotland Yard to shut up. I don´t think Scotland Yard has something to do with it, but we can´t prove it if we sit here with our hands tied." Her hands weren´t in cable ties at the moment but it still felt like this.  
"Give me my phone, so I can call my assistant. She can help us", Lindsay asked and Cindy got up to go to her trunk. A moment later she came back with Lindsay's handbag.  
"Does that mean you´ll help us?", Connor said, when Lindsay fumbled after her phone and chose Sues number.  
"Yes, but only on one condition."

They reached Edinburgh in the early morning and met Sue in the detective agency. Sue was surprised when a red-haired woman hurried past her and then sat down on Lindsay's office chair. The fact that the foreigner behaved like an idiot displeased Sue and she began to hate her already.  
"Who is that?", Sue asked and turned to Lindsay and Connor.  
"Sue, this is Cindy Bond, a bounty hunter from America. She will help us." Lindsay went to the coffee machine and poured for herself and Connor a cup. Then she looked for something to eat: Because Cindy had caught them during the day, they hadn´t eaten a bite. Lindsay has never been so happy to have found two packs of old chocolate cookies.  
While she and Connor ate the cookies, they told Sue what happened after the chase on Bond Street. They didn´t mention Simon and Rachel: Instead they told her like Cindy had caught them for one day.  
"What are you doing now?", Sue wanted to know.  
"We have to talk to Marquardt. We…"  
"You're pretty late," Lindsay's assistant interrupted him.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Marquardt has been taken to the hospital yesterday. Heart attack."  
"How'd you know that?", Lindsay asked.  
"The secretary of Mayor Wildman is one of my friends." And the mayor was a close friend of Assistant Chief McLeod, who certainly knew his colleague was in the hospital. Sue suggested to go outside. There they would discuss what they wanted to do with Cindy, who was still sitting in Lindsay's office chair and then got up to follow them. Sue didn´t like this but she had to say what needed to be said.  
"If you ask me, the whole story sounds pretty weird," Sue began and looked at Cindy, "Why should this bounty hunter help you?"  
Cindy thought it was pretty rude Sue was talking about her as I she wouldn´t be present.  
"Because I could have more money," the bounty hunter said when they left the detective agency and went down the stairs. They strolled down the sidewalk and between some other parking cars Connor discovered a black Audi.  
"That's my car!", he exclaimed surprised.  
"Yes, the fuel gauge was broken, that´s why the car had problems... By the way you owe me 3550 pounds. If I hadn´t paid in advance for you, you still would wait for your car being repaired. "  
They came near the vehicle and how Connor found out, the mechanics had fixed the shattered rear window, windshield and already replaced the mirrors. "A police patrol found your car near a little village called Fateburry after a couple was found murdered," she told him, "I heard the man was a vet and when he didn´t open his surgery in the morning, his assistant looked for him and found him and his wife dead. "  
A cold shiver ran through Connor's body, when he thought about Simon and his wife Rachel.  
"I then called a breakdown service, which has brought the car to Edinburgh."  
Inwardly Connor was relieved the police didn´t thought he and Lindsay were involved in the death of Simon and Rachel. He decided to ask Sue carefully: "What did the police find out about Simon and Rachel?"  
"Who?"  
"The vet from Fateburry and his wife," Connor said, "How did they die?"  
"According to the press report this Simon has shot his wife with a shotgun and then killed himself. It should have been a very violent fight." Sue replied what she had read in the police file: there were no other fingerprints at the shotgun but only the vet´s. "How do you actually know how the two were called?", Sue didn´t think this detail was published at the Scotsman, a newspaper. And Connor didn´t even answer to her question. Instead, he turned to Cindy.  
"You have destroyed the evidence," Connor dryly said to the redhead, "Why did you destroy all traces that Lindsay and I were with Simon and Rachel?" He was sure Sue knew now what really happened in Fateburry.  
"If I hadn´t done this it could cost me my reward, if the police suspects you. And I don´t share my money."  
"You are a terrible person, Cindy," it came from Sue, but Cindy didn´t seem to be impressed. It wasn´t the first time someone told her this.

Assistant Chief Marquardt woke up in his hospital room, because an aching pain surrounded his heart like a fist. If he hadn´t known better, he would say that at this moment a bus parked on him. Marquardt grabbed a device at the bedside, with which he could the ring for the night nurse. She had told him he should do that, if he had a heart problem. But when his fingers reached for the smooth surface of the alarm unit, he saw a black hand first grabbed it. In the darkness of his room, he saw a black figure, which was bent over the bed and took off the alarm device next to the sink. The figure came back to him and grabbed his throat. Marquardt felt the warm fabric of a glove on his skin, when the Phantom suddenly squeezed. He began to cough. Marquardt tried to defend himself, but he was too weak. The fine oxygen tube was pulled out of his nose and a sharp burning pain shot through his throat like a knife. Marquardt tried to breathe, but I couldn´t.  
The black figure in his eyes blurred, when the pain in his chest and the pressure on his neck became worse. He could still hear the hectic alarm of the cardiopulmonary monitoring machine before his lungs gave up and failed together with his heart.

Connor and Lindsay met again a few hours later in the detective agency. After they were almost caught in a deadly chase, she hadn´t believed to see her office ever again. It felt good to be back.  
"I want to go to the hospital," Connor told her when she handed him a cup of coffee, "I need to talk to Marquardt." He would have visited his boss the hospital this morning after he arrived back in Edinburgh, but he didn´t want to be rude, when he disturbed him outside the visiting hours with a survey. He also saw it was better to lie down for several hours. At home, he first picked up the dog that Lindsay had given him at his neighbor Mrs. Okroy and apologized for the early bothering. He had hardly closed the door behind him, when there was a knock and when he opened the door it was Lindsay. She asked him if he had missed her, came in and kissed him. Although he was tired and his arm still hurt, they both didn´t find much sleep. In the morning they had breakfast together before they went to the detective agency.  
"I'm coming with you," Lindsay suggested. She felt she shouldn´t leave him alone now. Then she noticed something was wrong. "Where is Cindy?"  
"No idea. But I'm glad we got rid of her a few hours."  
They asked the hospital receptionist about Marquardt's room number. The administrative assistant finally sent them to the third floor.  
"I hope Marquardt finally tells me what's going on here," Connor said when he and Lindsay came out of the elevator. He still didn´t understand the hubbub about the safety zones at Scotland Yard.  
They went to the room with number 314, knocked and entered after all. Inside were a nurse and two doctors and talked about Marquardt in front of the bed. Marquardt was wearing a hospital gown, wasn´t covered by a blanket and his flawless skin was just as pale as the linen.  
"What's going on?", Connor asked, pointing his Scotland Yard ID to the doctors.  
"He was murdered," a doctor said and Connor´s brow was frowning: "What makes you so sure?"  
"He has bruises on the neck," the ward doctor said and pointed to Marquardt's dead body, "Yesterday he haven´t had the bruises and it doesn´t come from our CPR." He looked shocked and told them Marquardt's Death was noticed in the morning rounds. When the doctor and two nurses came into the room, Marquardt was already dead and they couldn´t manage to bring him back to life. In addition, someone had turned off the alarm on the cardiopulmonary monitoring.  
Connor grabbed Lindsay's arm and led her away from the doctors. "We´ll take Marquardt to the police," Connor whispered, "I want to work with someone we can trust."  
Lindsay nodded. "Dr. Wingham." The coroner was new, he had helped them in a case last month and he seemed to be a very loyal and honest person. "Well, I'll call him." Lindsay left the room to prepare Doctor Wingham for Marquardt and to order a van.  
Meanwhile, Connor also went out, signed the release papers of the body and asked a few questions to the nurse: "Was the mayor here?," he asked a nurse and she shook her head, "Did you see someone coming from Marquardt's Room? "  
"You mean except for the doctors and nurses?"  
"Yes, except for those...", Connor noted how she hesitated, "Why didn´t you send Marquardt a guard?"  
"There was no reason," the nurse replied, "He was a patient with a heart attack. We can´t protect all the people who have a fairly important job."  
"Who was the last person which had left Assistant Chief Marquardt´s room?"  
"A man visited him yesterday after dinner."  
Connor recognized what she had just said and scribbled a note in the memo app of his smartphone, "Can you remember how the man looked like?"  
"He had a beard and wore a suit."  
Connor's fingers paused on the screen. Then he closed his virtual notepad and opened the website of Scotland Yard. He showed a photo to the nurse: "Is that him?"  
She nodded. The photo showed Assistant Chief Fergus McLeod.

Fin


	6. Fire Storm Ch 3

Title: Fire Storm Chapter 3  
Author: Dancing Star  
Crossover: PSI Factor / Sue Thomas FBEye  
Pairing: Connor / Lindsay, Jack / Sue  
Rating: 16  
Category: AU, Crime, Mystery, Romance  
Summaries: Connor and Lindsay are close to the truth.  
Note: The Idea to this story is mine, the characters aren´t, however. If the story sounds familiar: congratulations. You have found me. :-)

**Fire Storm Chapter 3**

Connor was excited to see how Assistant Chief McLeod wanted to explain his visit at the hospital. He gripped the steering wheel with rigid hands and Lindsay looked at him anxiously when he drove through a red light unfocused. "You should let me drive," she suggested. Although she had no car she had a driving license. And she would also use if necessary. Connor was too distracted to drive a vehicle.  
"No, I'm fine," he promised her, "It's just... Marquardt has tried to help us. I want to know why McLeod killed him."  
"That makes no sense," Lindsay grabbed his hand resting on the steering wheel, "The Nurse has seen McLeod coming out of his room the night before. If McLeod would have killed him, it would be noticed in the evening visit."  
Connor nodded. He was not happy to say this, but what she said was true.  
They had to slow down again at a traffic light and they saw a familiar person on the sidewalk. "This is Cindy."  
Apparently, the bounty hunter had seen them too, because she climbed into Connors Audi with a coffee cup in her hand.  
"How did you know where we are?"  
"Sue told me. This is the direct route to the hospital, if I am correctly informed", Cindy sat on the back seat," How's your boss?"  
"He's dead," Connor said, while they drove on, "McLeod killed him."  
Connor had to drive on because the traffic light was green. He took his phone out of his pocket and in the Internet Explorer he opened again on the photo of the assistant Chiefs. Lindsay rebuked him, he shouldn´t do that, at least he was driving his car. But Connor rolled his eyes and gave Cindy the phone over his shoulder.  
She looked at the photo. "This is one of the men who hired me," Cindy said.  
"It just keeps getting better," Connor muttered. Why didn´t this surprise him? At the same time, he wondered what was so explosive that Mayor Wildman and Assistant Chief McLeod were in cahoots.  
"Why would McLeod kill his colleague?", Lindsay asked and Connor corrected her: "The question is, what knew Marquardt that it cost him his life?"  
After ten minutes Connor stopped his car in front of the Scotland Yard building. He and Lindsay got out together. "And you're sure you want to talk to McLeod by yourself?", she asked when she was staying in front of him.  
"Yes. I think it´s better if you can stay out of this as long as possible."  
"We already talked about that," she complained and rolled her eyes, "Cindy has caught us both. Maybe I was just there by change, but I´m already involved."  
"I'm still sorry... But maybe it doesn´t matter anymore. I'm going to get fired. I´m sure", it wasn´t Connors style being nervous. Nevertheless, he was afraid to talk to McLeod.  
"That's nonsense. The chiefs of Scotland Yard should be happy someone is brave enough to find out the truth", Lindsay said, "I'll wait for you", she promised, and put both hands on his shoulders,  
"Thank you," Connor nodded nervously, "Can I ask you one more question?"  
"Sure."  
He hesitated for a second. But then he asked: "If I get fired can I then work in your detective agency?"

After Connor left the elevator at Scotland Yard, he saw the security man already waiting for him. "I still don´t have a four-level ID," Connor said to him, "But I need to talk to Assistant Chief McLeod."  
The guy threw a questioning glance at Kimberly, Marquardt's secretary, who was sitting behind her desk and hammering on the keyboard of her computer. She nodded and Connor could walk past her. He knocked on the wooden office door and entered. Assistant Chief McLeod was alone, his two colleagues in the executive suite were in their own offices and thus they could talk undisturbed.  
"Agent Doyle, what can I do for you?", the bearded man wanted to know, without looking up from his desk. Connor could swear the Assistant Chief didn´t even know he was present when he wouldn´t talk to him.  
"I have to talk to you urgently", Connor began, "What did you want from Marquardt? The nurse saw you when you left his room."  
"I visited a colleague at the hospital. Is that illegal?"  
"Of course not, sir. But you were the last person who saw Marquardt alive."  
"What makes you so sure?", only now McLeod looked up from his papers.  
"The...", Connor opened his mouth to explain, but the Assistant Chief didn´t even let him talk to an end.  
"The nurse told, right?", he paused for a moment and then looked back into the folder which lay before him on the table, "Agent Doyle, I didn´t expect you believe the testimony of that person."  
This person, like McLeod called the nurse, was currently more credible than the Assistant Chief was.  
They were interrupted by Kimberly who brought her new boss some documents and when she was leaving the office she left the door open behind her. "Our conversation is over, Agent Doyle," McLeod said to him and Connor looked a bit stunned. He couldn´t believe he didn´t care about the death of a colleague.  
"If you haven´t killed Marquardt, then who did?"  
"Ask her," McLeod again looked up from his papers and then in Cindy's direction. He could see her through the left open door. She and Lindsay were supposed to wait in the car and Connor wondered why they were came into the building and how they had managed to avoid McLeod's watchdog in the executive suite. With the words, "Take good care of your girlfriend. If you run into ruin, she runs with you", McLeod finally threw him out of his office.

On the way to the police, where Dr. Wingham was already waiting for them at the pathology, Connor didn´t talk a word to the two women. Lindsay knew him too well and she knew something was wrong. She talked to Connor until he came out with it: He told them about McLeod's allegation that Cindy should have killed Assistant Chief Marquardt.  
"I wasn´t even there," Cindy said when they went into the pathology and Doctor Wingham lifted his head irritated. He didn´t like if someone disturbed the peace of the dead.  
"McLeod tries to drive a wedge between us," Cindy said.  
"Why should we believe you?", Lindsay asked. She didn´t want to be sneaky, but it was her chance McLeod accused Cindy.  
"I can give you some good reasons why it wasn´t me," she began, gesticulating, "I didn´t know him and therefore I haven´t had a reason to kill him."  
"What if Mayor Wildman asked you to kill Marquardt? You´d do everything for money... ", when Lindsay said that, she saw she had met Cindy's sore spot, "And I believe you have no alibi for the time of the crime."  
"I have a receipt from my hotel room service", Cindy took a document from her jacket pocket which confirmed she had ordered a British breakfast at the Best Western Holiday Inn this morning.  
"Good day, ladies," Dr. Wingham said to Lindsay and Cindy before he turned to Connor, "Good day, Agent Doyle."  
"Hello Doctor Wingham. Got news for us?"  
"I do," the little man adjusted his glasses and rubbed his blue coat. He went with them to an examination table, where Assistant Chief Marquardt's dead body lay. He was covered up to the middle of the body with a cloth and Doctor Wingham pointed to his throat. At his throat was still a big hand print, the skin had turned in purple and yellow.  
"He's definitely been murdered," the man said to them, "His trachea has massive bruising and he has broken blood vessels in his eyes. A sign for choking." He lifted one of Marquardt´s lids. A dead, glassy eye stared at them.  
"But it was not my fault," Cindy crossed her arms over her chest.  
"She's right," the coroner said, "You didn´t kill him, because then you'd have hands are like a gorilla." He apologized for the gorilla- joke, grabbed Cindy's dry but delicate hands, then pointed again the pressure on Marquardt's neck. The handprint was too big, so it never fit Cindy's hands.  
"Do you have any idea who might could have done this?"  
"At least I can´t imagine the killer was a woman: The Killer has a greater hand and has to be strong enough to strangle a man... Unless the murderer was a body builder, but I don´t think Marquardt had contact to such woman."  
"What, if it was someone of Cindy´s so-called friends, which is quite possible?," Lindsay added and the evil eye Connor and Cindy threw to her, made her suspect now it wasn´t the time for angry comments.  
"Did you find any fingerprints on Marquardt's skin?", Connor finally wanted to know from Dr. Wingham, who shook his head disappointed.  
"We are dealing with a professional," he said, "I haven´t found fingerprints or skin particles or anything that could help me figure out the DNA of the killer."He sat on a stool with wheels, turned around and wobbled to a computer. "But I have found something else," Wingham opened a file and on the screen the image of a fine black fiber appeared, "I found this fiber in Marquardt's nose. Probably it comes from the gloves the killer was wearing."  
"That means we are looking for a man who likes to wear black gloves," Lindsay concluded and she had to admit that might could be almost everyone in these freezing temperatures.  
"Right now I'm trying to find out something about the composition of the fiber. I´m waiting for the laboratory results", Dr. Wingham said and folded his arms across his chest," If I know of what the fiber contains I´ll tell you, perhaps you can find out who bought such gloves and."  
"I know, Doctor Wingham." Connor thanked him for doing his job so well and to he was so interested in solving the case, even though Wingham had never worked with Assistant Chief Marquardt.  
"There's still something I must tell you," Dr. Wingham rose from his rickety stool and now went to a shelf. There, he sought out a large envelope, which contained a few radiographs. "Dr. Davison from Scotland Yard told me she had requested X-ray images of all dentists in the city of. Meanwhile, some documents have reached us", he handed them a large panoramic image. "This bit fits the skull shots that Doctor Davison could make, before the body has disappeared."  
"This means we have a name?", Lindsay asked, hoping no one would hear the excitement in her voice.  
"Unfortunately no. The picture is just labeled with a date of birth from 2001... I'm sorry. I can´t explain why today there are still x-ray images, without the names of the patients."  
"This is not your fault."  
"...But what I can tell you with certainty is that it´s the body of a ten year old boy... Unfortunately, we already know that by now."  
"How can it be possible that the disappearance of a ten year old child isn´t noticed? It doesn´t have to go to school?", Lindsay said and Connor admitted this was a very good question.  
Doctor Wingham promised them he would call immediately if the laboratory tests were completed and there was news about the exact composition of the black fiber. He took them to the front door of the pathology and said goodbye there.

"I hope you now believe me I didn´t kill your boss," Cindy said when they returned to Connor's car. What Lindsay had also said about her had hurt her. She was a bounty hunter, but no assassin. She knew she was just lying to herself, when she remembered Simon and his wife Rachel. And that Lindsay thought Cindy would even sell her loyalty, let her suspect she wasn´t quite tough as she had thought.  
"I don´t know if I should believe you," Connor said, who was sitting behind the steering wheel, "But as long as your guilt isn´t proven, I believe you to be innocent." Lindsay was surprised and shocked at the same time that her boyfriend fell for her. She still thought Cindy was a false, manipulative person.  
"What do we do now? We can´t sit here and twiddle our thumbs", Lindsay didn´t want to discuss about Cindy's guilt or innocence, so she decided to talk about different things.  
"You said a firefighter also disappeared. What happened to him?"  
The man was swallowed by the earth, as well as the body, which suddenly disappeared from the pathology of Scotland Yard.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, someone must have noticed his disappearance. He has no neighbors or family?"  
"He has a wife," Connor said.  
"Did you already talk to her?"  
"Once," Lindsay replied.  
"And she´s satisfied with the fact that her husband has disappeared without a trace?", Cindy asked, "If you ask me, something´s wrong with the bitch." She looked at her fingernails now.  
"The bitch, as you call her, may have lost her husband!... She also showed us her bank statements and thus we came to the conclusion her husband was paid for his silence, "Lindsay sounded horrified because of Cindy's irreverence. She was even more appalled that Connor considered Cindy´s idea was plausible because he steered his car to the home of the Newton family. He stopped on the sidewalk in some distance from the house.  
"I'll go and see if someone is home." Connor opened the car door, got out and ran across the street. Cindy and Lindsay were left alone.  
"That must be pretty terrible for you that your colleague thinks my idea is plausible," Cindy thought out loud.  
"He's a good investigator, that's all," Lindsay watched how Connor snuck around the house, "He´s obliged to investigate every indication."  
"Sure," Cindy, who propped her elbows on the seats in front of her and looked at the floor, "You are jealous because we´re a good team, too."  
"I'm not jealous. There is no reason... And no matter what you think you know about Connor, forget it. He´s a very loyal person. We are partners, a family", Lindsay watched the red-haired bounty hunter across her shoulder," But you don´t know about this, right? How should you? You don´t have a family, after all."  
A grin flashed across Cindy's face. "Cindy isn´t my real name," she began, "In truth, my name is Odette Rosenblatt. My parents live in New York City, my father is a rabbi in a Jewish community. My mother owns a small grocery store. I only see my parents once a year at Christmas and that's when I leave Cindy Bond in Nevada and fly to the East Coast to celebrate Hanukkah with my family."  
"Do your parents know about your job?"  
"No. And I pray every night no one ever knows about it. That would be too dangerous. I have put many people behind bars. There are too many shady characters that vowed revenge." Letting herself be carried away on this emotional outburst, seemed to be wrong, but she would do anything if she could prove to Lindsay she hadn´t a heart of stone.  
"You probably deserved it," Lindsay said and thought about her master question. She hated Cindy Bond, but she decided now was a good time to talk about it, "What are you looking for?"  
"Forgiveness."  
"Forgiveness?", Lindsay snorted, "You have killed two people and only since I've known you. The only thing you'll ever get is hell."  
"Maybe I won´t get forgiveness. I would be very happy with diplomatic immunity", Cindy replied. That was the condition, why she had helped Connor and Lindsay and Lindsay wondered if Cindy didn´t know that diplomatic immunity wasn´t up to her.  
At that moment, Connor opened the door from the outside and sat down at the driver's seat. "The car is still in front of the house. Mrs. Newton is at home, but she doesn´t open the door. "  
"She probably doesn´t want to talk to us," Lindsay thought, "We could get a court order so we can look at her house..."  
The bounty hunter, who was sitting in the back seat, decided to solve the problem: "I´ll do that."

For Cindy, it was an easy game to break into someone's house. She had done something like this many times in the past. Even today, she returned under cover of night to the house. She let Connor and Lindsay park about two blocks from the family home and crept alone through the gardens of neighbors. Like a cat, Cindy slipped past on walls, fences and bushes that hid her presence perfectly, until she finally reached Amanda Newton´s house. When she was convinced there was no light in the house, she crackled the lock of the back door with a lockpick and slipped noiselessly into the small building. Cindy was relieved Amanda Newton didn´t own a dog or a cat. Pets were an annoying obstacle and it always cost unnecessary time to get rid of them. During a burglary in the past Cindy had once put a rebellious Toy Poodle inside a washing machine, so that little barker didn´t wake his owners. The poodle could be glad Cindy hadn´t been so wicked and turned on the washing machine.  
Cindy crept up the stairs and had to stop sometimes because the stairs creaked under her feet. Finally, she reached the top floor. She first wanted to convince herself that Amanda Newton slept. When she saw the owner of the house sleeping in her bed, she closed the bedroom door and locked it from the outside. Cindy then snuck to the adjusting room.  
She slowly opened the door and as it turned out, the room was a nursery: On the floor lay a few toys that looked like Lego spaceships and the blue wall was painted with stars, planets and rockets. A huge Astronaut poster hung above the bed. Apparently this was a boy´s room. But Cindy couldn´t see a child. Instead she found a wheelchair and another walker, whose name she didn´t know and a metal frame that had to be a corset. Coming closer, she saw some school books, which were meant for first graders.  
Next, Cindy made her way downstairs, where she searched the cabinets. She didn´t know exactly for what she was searching for, but she hoped she would find something to put a little light on her case. After an hour she decided to cancel the mission and left the house as silently as she had come in.  
Her route led Cindy once again through the eerily quiet gardens of the neighbors until she sat down again on the back seat of Connors car.  
"I have found nothing unusual," she disappointed them, "But did the Newton have kids?"  
Lindsay remembered the conversation Connor had with Mrs. Newton. "No", he had asked Mrs. Newton for a child and she had denied.  
"Why is then a nursery in her house, which is decorated with Astronaut stuff? I've even seen books." If this was the home of the missing child, whose body they were looking for, this would explained at least, why the child didn´t visit school and therefore wasn´t missing.  
Lindsay looked up. "Did you say astronauts?", she asked. That was the note: They weren´t looking for a pilot or an astronaut, but for someone who admired these people so much.  
"Have you seen this child?", Connor looked in the rearview mirror and hoped to see Cindy's eyes there. She shook her head.  
"Maybe the Newtons had adopted a child... Or it´s Mr. Newton´s son from a former marriage...", Connor suspected. He still found it was odd that Amanda Newton hadn´t mentioned the child. "I'm afraid she won´t answer if we ask for it," he said.  
"We should visit town hall tomorrow," Lindsay decided, "I have an idea."

Connor was a little surprised that Lindsay hadn´t talked to him during the ride to her apartment. First they took Cindy to her hotel then Connor wanted to take his girlfriend home. But he knew something was wrong. "Is everything all right?", he asked helplessly when they entered her apartment.  
"I think we should continue without Cindy", she suggested, leaning against her dining table.  
"Why?", Connor didn´t understand, "She has helped us very much with the house of Amanda Newton." He wasn´t happy, but basically he was glad he didn´t have to do this.  
"She´s standing in our way... And I can´t stand her."  
"I've noticed," of course, knew Connor, what she actually wanted to say, "The fact we are having this discussion at all comes to me like a bad joke. Cindy is a great help... I'm also just doing my job. And if I'm doing my job, then I'm not your boyfriend, but a Scotland Yard detective."  
"That's very charming of you," she scolded, "You mean you deny me if you're not straight with me?"  
"I didn´t want to say this but... If Cindy can help us to resolve the case, why would I refuse this help?"  
"Because I don´t think we need her help."  
"You're jealous." Connor barely noticed when his voice grew louder.  
"And you don´t see the truth because of all the lies!" Lindsay defiantly crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him. Finally, Connor shook his head resignedly.  
"Until you've decided if you want to continue to help me, you can stay wherever you want." He was mad and closed the door behind him. Lindsay was left alone and Connor went into his own apartment.

Late that night, Lindsay was awakened by a strange sound. The dispute with Connor was still on her mind and she wondered if he would break up with her. This consideration was keeping her busy and she wanted to call him and ask him about this, but she didn´t. Actually she was afraid of what Cindy had made out of them.  
Tired, Lindsay left her bedroom and went into the kitchen. After she had poured a glass of water, she looked out of the window. A large fireball was burning in the sky. Sirens wailed across the city. So that was it. The noise that had awakened her, were the sirens of the fire fighters, trying to curb the threat.

When the day came and displaced the night, firefighters had brought the fire in the city under control. Connor didn´t follow the news in the radio as every morning. He needed the silence to think about last night. Of course, he also believed Cindy was a manipulative person, but he also saw the benefits in her presence. For a second he wondered why Lindsay couldn´t think as rationally as he did. They were a team. She should be on his side.  
Connor wondered why Weaverly Street, the street on which the Scotland Yard headquarters was located, was blocked. He had to pass by a fire engine and show his ID so he could cross the street. What he saw looked like a terrible nightmare: almost half of the Scotland Yard building was destroyed and covered in black ash. Smoke came from some windows, rose in columns to the sky and a dry stench was in the air. Connor slowed his car at a safe distance on the sidewalk next to a red mailbox.  
He saw a firefighter who tried to find a tool next to a fire truck and recognized him: This was the same man he and Lindsay had interviewed because of the disappearance of Trevor Newton. Connor decided to talk to him and ask what happened. "Good morning," he said and showed him his ID. Even the fireman also seemed to recognize him, because his face lit up suddenly.  
"What happened here?"  
"A fire broke out in the eighth floor. We now know it was caused by a short circuit from a server", the fireman said," We have also found a carpet that has remains of an accelerant, but the cause was definitely a short-circuit."  
Connor didn´t like this answer. "From the eighth floor? Are you sure? On the eighth floor, there is no server room. That a fire comes from there is impossible. The servers are stored in a fireproof room in the basement."  
"Sorry, we are one hundred percent sure the fire came from the eighth floor," the man´s apology was honestly, "We have already seized the fire. It´s not much." He gave Connor a photo of a plaque on which a serial number was visible.  
"Are there any injuries or deaths?"  
"Fortunately, no. Nobody was in the building, when the fire broke out."  
The fire. Connor recalled the department store Adelaide's was also burned to the ground and he wondered if the two fires could possibly have something to do with each other.  
"How long does it take for us to enter the building again?", Connor asked and the fireman promised he would take care of it immediately.  
With Bill from the IT department Connor, and the fireman were on the way to the basement a little later.  
"How many computers are down there?", Connor wanted to know, while they walked down the stairs. The elevator was out of service and still couldn´t be used.  
"Six," Bill replied. Before a heavy iron door, he pulled out a set of keys and a PIN card and opened the double secured doors for them, so they could enter. Cold light shone in the room when they walked between the heavy computational units. Connor counted five servers. The last rack on the right side of the corridor was empty. "One´s missing", Connor said and Bill joined him.  
"The server was picked up a few days ago," Bill told, "I guess the transport company was called Pick me up. The strange thing was that I haven´t ordered the removal of the server and I didn´t pay for it. The men said they already had received their money and when I asked them who gave them the job, they told me it wasn´t my business "  
"Was the computer broken?", the firefighter suspected and Bill gave him a scornful look. Since he was eighteen he was repairing defective computers and he has never come across a computer, which he couldn´t breathe in new life. The missing Scotland Yard server really had been his first hopeless.  
"I can´t explain why the server is gone," Bill said, "And still less can I explain why it suddenly appears again, gets a short circuit and would set the whole house on fire."  
"Thank you, Bill," the testimony of the technician was everything Connor needed.

Connor waited outside for Lindsay, Cindy and Sue who came after Connor had told them about the fire at Scotland Yard on the phone. He watched as Lindsay walked down the deserted Weaverly Street. Connor had told his new friend in the fire department, he should let Lindsay and her companions go through the security barrier. She hurried and when Lindsay finally stood before him, she wrapped her arms around him.  
"Are you okay?", she asked anxiously.  
"Yes, I was at home when the fire broke out. Fortunately, no one was in the building."  
"Look, all I have said to you last night was stupid... and I know you´re just doing your work. I'm sorry."  
"Alright," he grinned and was relieved she had calmed down. He hoped she had realized there were no reasons for being worried.  
Cindy and Sue also asked how Connor was. On the way to the main entrance of the building, he told them he already had been in the cellar. A short, paunchy man with a blue pinstripe shirt and bald head interrupted their meeting.  
"This is the inventory list you wanted," Bill said to Connor, "The server was taken offline a few days ago and picked up by two unknown men. It had a serial number. Here: 188-999-002 ".  
Connor now showed Lindsay, Cindy and Sue a photo of a semi-molten plastic piece, which he had received from the fireman and was taken on the damaged floor, but the metal badge was still very good. The plaque also showed the number 188-999-002.  
"This is the missing Scotland Yard server," Lindsay stated.  
"That was the missing server," Connor corrected, "Now, all the data on this server is destroyed by the fire." For a moment he was grateful for the John Doe file that was still in the purse of his girlfriend.  
The firefighters had released the upper floors of the building, so Connor decided to go to his office. On the way he passed the management area and asked Anne, the new head of the department, if she could find some documents of a transport company called "pick me up" and Anne promised she would give him the data immediately, if there was something. Cindy stayed with Anne. She hoped to speed the search process a little.  
The corridor leading to his office was littered with debris. Connors department was located in the damaged area of the building. The walls were smeared with black soot and the air stank of fire. Connor said nothing when he walked into his office, which was also devastated. He went to the desk and picked up an object in his hands, which once had to be a framed photo of him and Lindsay. He suggested that´s why Assistant Chief McLeod knew about him and Lindsay although he never mentioned anything about his girlfriend. The floor creaked under Connor's feet when he stepped on some broken glass. His computer on his desk was no longer recognizable. He had no idea how long it would take until the building recovered from fire.  
"That's all just scrap," Connor complained and turned to Lindsay and Sue. Another figure appeared next to his girlfriend and her assistant in the doorway. Her fiery red hair formed a menacing contrast to the building which was destroyed by the flames.  
"I didn´t know your office looks so terrible," Cindy said.  
"This is not an office anymore. This is a pile of rubble", Connor corrected.  
"Well, anyway ... The administration lady is sending this to you: She found a receipt of Pick me up ", she handed him a small piece of paper. It wasn´t a payment document, but rather a confirmation of order. McLeod had signed the note and therefore Connor thought he had been the originator of the server transport. But why? One part was missing to completing the puzzle. What connection was between the missing child's body, which apparently had nothing to do with Amanda Newton, her missing husband and the need for McLeod destroyed all data at Scotland Yard?  
"We wanted to go to City Hall. What about this?", Lindsay recalled and Connor nodded. They were on their way. They couldn´t do much at Scotland Yard at the moment: Too many people were busy with cleanups and so they decided to make themselves useful elsewhere. Sue promised she´d return to the detective agency and talk to the shipping company, which had picked up the server.  
When Connor, Lindsay and Cindy went up a broad stone staircase at town hall, Connor noticed a ring tone that came out of his pocket. "This is an email from Sue," Connor said to them when his fingers flitted across the screen of his cell phone, "She sent me a copy of a savings book of a certain Albert Newton... Here, it was created by Seamus Wildman. That's the mayor." He wondered who Albert Newton was. Maybe it was a relative of Amanda Newton and her missing husband Trevor. Or it was it the child who allegedly didn´t live in the home of the couple...  
Connor hoped the visit at town hall brought a little light into the darkness.

It took nearly two hours until they had found what they were looking for in the city register office. The air was dry and stuffy and in spite of the digital age, many of the documents were still available as copies.  
"I found the copy of the family book," Cindy said and spread the file in front of them on the table. In the papers, was written that the missing firefighter Trevor and his wife Amanda were married for 15 years. In addition to the marriage certificate there was a birth certificate.  
"Here it is: Albert Newton. He is ten years old... That would fit the missing corpse..." She remembered the date of birth on the radiographic picture.  
Lindsay was confused by an entry on the document. "According to the documents Seamus Wildman is the father of the child."  
"Mayor Wildman?", Connor repeated That explained the passbook.  
"Yes. And guess who was working at town hall in 2001, the year when Albert Newton was born?"  
"Let me guess: It was Amanda Newton," Lindsay combined. She hadn´t known the mayor was having an affair with a secretary back then. Wildman then wasn´t a mayor, but only sat on the city council. But of course, a secret affair was never good for a budding politician.  
Connor wanted to say something when his phone rang and he had to take the call. He let Lindsay and Cindy alone. Connor was only two minutes away, when he came back. "That was Doctor Wingham," he said monotonously to them, when he hung up.  
"And? What did he find out?"  
"The fiber he has found in Marquardt nose consists of a refractory material."  
"Is that a problem?", Lindsay wanted to know and Connor nodded slowly.  
"These gloves are specially produced for the fire department. Marquardt's killer was a fireman." And he had a foreboding, who exactly might be the killer.  
For a moment there was silence.  
"I'm sorry I have suspected you to be Marquardt´s murderer," Lindsay said to Cindy. The bounty hunter appreciated her apology, but she tried to hide this.  
Connor sat down on a wooden chair. He stared at the letters that were written with a typewriter on the birth certificate of Albert Newton.  
"I know," Connor suddenly said.  
"What do you know?"  
"You were right from the beginning," Connor said to Lindsay and she didn´t understand, "You once said to me you suspect my top Boss is involved ...", Connor began and she nodded. Lindsay could still remember, but she hadn´t meant it that way.  
"...But it was not about Marquardt, at least not really... Marquardt must have found out that Mayor Wildman killed his child from this affair. Marquardt probably even knew what caused the fire at Adelaide´s and that the child died earlier... I think the boy had a weak heart and one night suffered on a heart attack and his parents didn´t help him because they were tired of the constant illnesses... That's just a theory... Because Wildman and Assistant Chief McLeod were good friends, McLeod has done everything to protect the mayor: First, he has established security zones at Scotland Yard to prevent someone gets to information about the case and then wanted to let disappear the burned corpse of the boy..."  
"We still don´t know how he did it," Lindsay interrupted him.  
"I suppose he has manipulated the monitoring system ... When mayor Wildman has seen us in the archives, he knew we would find out his secret, when we see the file. So he and his buddy McLeod decided to kill us, too... I guess they have picked up Cindy at "The Dudes". This pub is known for that there are only cons and such figures, which you better won´t meet on the street. We were lucky their choice fell on Cindy, who is interested in a lot of money and suspects more profit in this case, instead of delivering us to her clients."  
While Connor spoke, Cindy nodded: McLeod and Wildman had actually met her at a bar called "The Dudes" and offered her a job.  
He was good. He was actually very good and Cindy had to admit that Connor really mastered his job.  
"What happened to Trevor Newton?"  
"I´ll tell you: After he had disappeared, he has resurfaced and killed Marquardt in McLeod's behalf. After the murder of Marquardt he submerged again. Presumably this will also take a while. Why, I'll tell you later... In McLeod´s opinion his dear colleague Marquardt knew too much and still he wanted to help his friend, the mayor."  
"But why?", she wondered who was so cold hearted and killed his own child. And why Amanda Newton had served in silence.  
"Sue found out, why: Sue is a friend of Mayor Wildman´s secretary. Sue asked her friend some questions and she found out that Wildman transfers money to an account since the birth of his son. He only gets the money back if Albert Newton would die, at least this is a clause on Page 18 in the contract... Sue's friend was kind enough to send us a copy of the passbook... In case of death of Albert Newton Mayor Wildman would have received 120,000 pounds."  
"The mayor had money problems?", Lindsay asked.  
"According to his secretary, no," Connor believed that Wildman had promised some of the money to his former affair Amanda Newton and her husband if they´d helped him to kill the boy who was about to become an annoying obstacle for his parents. The Assistant Chiefs Marquardt and McLeod were almost accidentally involved. And because Albert Newton suffered from all kinds of diseases... No, Lindsay didn´t dare to bring this terrible thought to an end. She couldn´t believe there were people who would do something cruel.  
"We can never prove this," Lindsay found his theory sounded plausible.  
"We can."

Connor and Lindsay drove without Cindy to Scotland Yard: She wanted to go to Sue at the detective agency to find out if there was already news of the transport company.  
They hurried to get to the floor, which housed McLeod office. The floor was also attacked by the flames, but it was a privilege to work in the executive suite, which was released faster from the traces of fire. Without saying a word Connor passed Kimberly, who was now McLeod´s secretary. He wondered where McLeod´s muscle-bound security guard had been.  
Lindsay followed him and she was surprised that he burst into the office of the Assistant Chief, without knocking. "You don´t have an appointment, Agent," McLeod rebuked him and looked unimpressed at the computer game, which he was playing.  
"I don´t need an appointment," Connor said, "I know it. I know you have helped the mayor murdering his son and you ordered Trevor Newton to kill Assistant Chief Marquardt." Connor noted the unsettled look at McLeod's eyes, "I have just talked to the police... You remember my girlfriend Lindsay Donner, right? Well, as you may also know, Captain Hendricks still estimates the competence of his former colleague's very much... Captain Hendricks and his team are already on the way to the mayor's office to arrest him."  
Connor saw McLeod hesitated for a second, but then he picked up his phone and dialed the button two. In the office of mayor Wildman the phone was ringing, no one cared to answer the call of the Assistant Chief. Therefore McLeod believed that there had to be something Connors threat. Then he chose Amanda Newton's phone number and even there, nobody answered the call.  
"Oh yes, the police is also talking to Amanda Newton... You have set Adelaide's in fire where Wildman wanted to burn the body of his unpopular son. Then you removed the server on which all information of this case was stored and then you wanted to let the server disappear. Without further ado you destroyed Scotland Yard."  
McLeod was silent for a second. "You can´t prove that I am responsible for the fire at Adelaide's and at Scotland Yard. To be more specific, you can´t prove anything of all this", he folded his hands into a tent and stared at them.  
"Don´t you also notice there is a smell of accelerant in your office?", Lindsay suddenly said who walked around his desk.  
"Half the building was in flames last night," the bearded Assistant Chief defended himself.  
"But I thought a short circuit in a server was to blame for the fire and not a bottle of accelerant... Although: One of the firemen said a carpet soaked with accelerant was also found", quickly she reached for the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled it out. McLeod screamed but couldn´t stop Lindsay anymore.  
She let out a triumphant cry when she actually saw an open can of accelerant.  
"Assistant Chief Fergus McLeod, you are under arrest," Connor said, grabbed the wrist of the man and placed him in handcuffs. He needed only to wait until he received support from his colleagues.

After they had taken care of McLeod's arrest, Connor and Lindsay went through the less damaged lobby of the building. They were on their way home and Connor invited her for dinner to his home. "This is a very good idea," Lindsay smiled happily. She was very relieved they had ended their dispute.  
They had almost reached the glass door, when a tall, blond man stopped them. Lindsay noticed he looked very handsome and in her mind she added that Connor was very attractive, too.  
"Sorry, you must be Agent Doyle and Miss Donner," the man said to them, "I'm Collin Allen. Scotland Yard." He showed them an ID and Connor shook his colleague's hand. "You work with Scotland Yard? I´ve never seen you before."  
"No, I'm not from Edinburgh, but from the office in Belfast," Collin pulled his cell phone out of the side pocket of his long coat, "You have been seen in Edinburgh with this woman." He showed them a photo of Cindy.  
"This is Cindy Bond," Lindsay confirmed, "What do you want from her?"  
"She's a bounty hunter," Collin said to them, "The police found a red, long hair in the house in Fateburry and presumably it´s hers." He believed that Cindy was the killer of the Fateburry- couple.  
"But she has helped us," said Connor him, " We wouldn´t have caught the murder of the boy without Cindy." He told him the whole story of how they were caught by Cindy in Fateburry and Collin listened attentively.  
"That means she let you go if you give her diplomatic immunity?", he folded his arms across his chest, "You can´t even do that."  
"Diplomatic Immunity, forgiveness, glory... Who knows what exactly she wants?", Lindsay added. She found that didn´t fit Cindy: She never left any traces. At that moment Lindsay was sure Cindy had intentionally left a hair at the crime scene. Maybe she had done this if anyone ever found out Connor and Lindsay had been in Fateburry and had contact with Simon and Rachel, too... She thought maybe there was something good in the bounty hunter.  
Collin Allen asked them all sorts of questions, until he finally dismissed them.  
Outside it was dark. Twilight enveloped the early December afternoon in cold darkness, when Connor and Lindsay got into the Audi. He noticed they had talked a lot about Cindy in the past few minutes, but where was she? He reached for his cell phone to call Sue in the detective agency. If he remembered correctly, Cindy wanted to go to her. For some reason he wasn´t a bit surprised when Sue told him she hadn´t seen Cindy since this morning at Scotland Yard.

Cindy stayed at the Best Western Holiday Inn and when Connor and Lindsay arrived there and asked the receptionist for her, the lady shook her head.  
"I'm sorry: I don´t know someone who´s called Cindy Bond."  
"Try the name Odette Rosenblatt," Lindsay suggested and Connor looked at her in astonishment. He wondered how she came up with that name. The administration lady typed the name into her computer and shook her head again. "No. I can´t find this name, too."  
While the woman was looking at her computer after a similar name and an address from Nevada, Lindsay went to the guest book, because she wanted to see if there was a name that sounded invented. But she couldn´t find one. Cindy had obliterated all traces perfectly.  
She had an idea where Cindy was and although she had helped them solving the case, she hoped they wouldn´t see her again.

The door to Connors apartment was open when Lindsay later that evening stopped in to see him. She entered his apartment and was glad to see his dog lying in the entrance area. The puppy got up and wagged his tail happily, when he saw her. On his collar now a bone-shaped pendant hung, where Connors address and a name were engraved on it. The dog was called "Buddy".  
Lindsay smiled. "Hello, little boy."  
Buddy was happy to see her and Lindsay saw he was already grown a bit (at least she thought so), so she took him in her arms and walked with him to the kitchen.  
"Glad you're here," Connor said to her, "Nearby a new precious Japanese restaurant had opened. Would you like to have sushi?"  
"No, thank you. Let´s stay at home", when she proposed it, she remembered back to the ring that Connor had bought for her.  
"Shall we order something to eat?", he wanted to know from her and she shook her head.  
"Captain Hendricks called. Amanda Newton has told everything: She told the captain where her husband keeps hiding and she confessed that Mayor Wildman and Assistant Chief McLeod helped her getting rid of her son, because she couldn´t stand that the boy was sick every time. After they couldn´t get rid of the body in the flames of Adelaide´s, Assistant Chief McLeod paid an agent to steal the body and manipulate the monitoring system. I heard, the person got fired", she looked around his apartment, while she was talking, "Sit with me". Lindsay sat down on the couch, then she put the dog on the floor," I've heard there are two jobs as an Assistant Chief available at Scotland Yard. You should apply", she suggested and rested her head on her palm, to make it a little more comfortable, while Connor sat down beside her.  
"I don´t think this is a good idea." He sounded like a little offended child and looked pretty defiant.  
"Why not?"  
"I put the mayor and one of my bosses behind bars. Edinburgh hates me."  
"Nobody hates you... In addition, the Mayor and Assistant Chief McLeod were criminals. You've done the city a big favor." Her voice was very quiet.  
"I wouldn´t have good chances to get that job," he thought for a while, what to say. Finally, he added, "And the remaining Assistant Chiefs hate me, too. It's a miracle they didn´t fire me... Or worse: They could have put me in a different department: The clean-up crew."  
Lindsay was silent for a moment. "You'd be the perfect person for the position of an Assistant Chief. And you know why? ", She watched when he shook his head, "You are a thoroughly honest person. I know no one I could trust more than you. If I had to, I would trust you with my life, because I know you do everything to help me and you just stand by me in my darkest hour." And suddenly she knew what she would say when he really should ask her.  
"Thanks," he nodded to her almost imperceptibly and tried to smile, "I'll be right back, okay?" He waited to see if she nodded. Then he got up and left his room. Lindsay watched him eagerly. Where he was going?  
Finally he came back, sat down beside her on the couch and Lindsay saw a small red velvet box in his hands. She tried to hide her smile from him. Gladly she would have told him she already knew about his plans, but she didn´t. She was afraid to ruin the moment. "What you got there?", she asked, hoping she played her role perfectly.  
"I don´t know how to begin. This is something I've never done before", he admitted and Lindsay sighed inwardly, "Actually, I wanted to ask you before, but then... Damn, I really don´t know what to say." For a second, he thought about if he perhaps should kneel before her, but because they both couldn´t handle so much kitsch he didn´t.  
"I think I know what you want to ask me."  
"You know? Did you have a vision of it?"  
"No," Lindsay decided she had be honest yet, so she told him about the red box she had found. "I haven´t said anything about it because I didn´t know how to react," she grabbed his hand, "It took me a little while before I could make up my mind."  
"And how did you decide?"  
"Yes," she nodded, "Connor, I would love to spend the rest of my life with you."

Fin


	7. Night Shadow Part 1

Title: Night Shadow  
Author: Dancing Star  
Crossover: PSI Factor / Sue Thomas FBEye  
Pairing: Connor / Lindsay, Jack / Sue  
Rating: 12 (includes some less beautiful scenes)  
Category: AU, Crime, Romance  
What happens: Because they´re searching for a nice castle for their wedding, Connor and Lindsay end up at Blacknight Castle.  
Note: The idea to this story is mine, the characters aren´t, however. If the story sounds familiar: congratulations. You have found me. :-)  
This is based on a true story.

**Night Shadow**

"Now don´t be angry about Connor. He hasn´t done this intentionally", Sue said to Lindsay, when the two and Jack and Connor were on the way to a small castle called Blacknight Castle. They had been on the road for two hours. It didn´t take long to get from Edinburgh to the southern border area of Scotland. Most Scots lived in the area between Edinburgh and Glasgow. In the Highlands or in the border region of England, for example, only a few people lived, so the area was sparsely populated.  
Lindsay loved her homeland Scotland. Getting married here was something special for her.  
"I'm not angry about Connor," she said, looking over her shoulder to Sue and Jack, who were sitting on the back seat of Connors car.  
"I admit I made a stupid mistake," Connor said, who drove the car. Two weeks ago, he had asked his fiancé during breakfast in their home if she still remembered the deposit for Lothian Castle. She nodded, because the payment for a castle in the southern region of Scotland, where they wanted to celebrate their wedding, was pretty low and had cost 699 pounds. At the same time Lindsay was excited to hear what was coming. Connor told her a mistake had happened with the payment of the deposit: instead of 699 pounds he had paid 6.99 pounds and when he got a call from the manager of Lothian Castle, he asked if that might be a joke. Because Connor didn´t understand what the man said, he had reacted angrily and then looked at his bank statements again. The manager was right, Connor had actually paid only 6.99 pounds and when he called the man again to apologize, he said the reservation for Lothian Castle was already canceled. So they had to look for another castle, where they could celebrate their wedding. Lothian Castle would have been perfect: It was small and easy to reach.  
"You're right: This is a pretty stupid mistake," Lindsay agreed and Sue defended Connor's and said he hadn´t done this on purpose. Because he ruined it, Connor wanted to find a new castle and then he found Blacknight Castle on the Internet, which was about fifty miles south-east of Edinburgh. They were now on their way to see the castle, because Lindsay didn´t want to buy a pig in a poke. That a castle, which was half the size of Buckingham Palace in London, was able to rent for price of £ 3000 per weekend was suspicious. While driving, Lindsay imagined the wildest stories why it was so cheap. "Maybe there are no toilets but only an outhouse," she had said to Sue, while they loaded their bags into the car at home. In addition, she could imagine nicer things for this weekend than traveling through the solitude of southern Scotland to find a castle for their wedding.  
Sue didn´t know if she should laugh now. Then she said: "Perhaps there is a resident ghost, who scares the guests." She could see Lindsay wasn´t happy with this answer. Sue always said what she was thinking, but that's why Lindsay appreciated her assistant. Sue also had a good heart. Not to mention that amazing gift she had made her: "She gave me a gift card for a Robbie Williams concert," Lindsay told, waving the tickets this morning in front of her fiancés eyes after he took their dog Buddy to an animal shelter.  
"Who?"  
"He's a superstar here in Europe," Lindsay said and rolled her eyes. In these eighteen months he already lived in the UK, he hadn´t become a little more European (He sometimes told her he felt like a wrong-way driver while driving because he still had problems with the left side traffic in UK which he wasn´t used to from his home Canada.) "Sue maybe wants that you take her to the concert, too," Connor predicted and Lindsay replied she was glad to do this: After all it wasn´t Sue fault she couldn´t get married at Lothian Castle. The little fight because of Lothian Castle hung over them like a black cloud and Connor was hoping Lindsay would forgive him as soon as they reached the alternatively castle.  
Connor's car left the road and then drove up a dirt road, so they were shaken up.  
"Will your parents also come to the wedding?", Sue wanted to know and Lindsay suddenly shook her head. Her father was an alcoholic and her grandfather had told her on the phone, he had last been drinking into the hospital because his kidneys gave up. "I always told your mother that your father is no good," the old man had said to her on the phone and took a sip of his whisky. Of course, Lindsay knew her grandfather didn´t want to cause more damage between her and her parents, but what he said was the truth. She therefore decided not to call her parents. Her mother wouldn´t have time anyway, because she preferred to spend the time at the hospital bedside of her abusive husband, holding his hand instead of being at the wedding of her only daughter. Evelyn Donner still took it personally that her daughter had left Stirling, a small town which was about an hour's drive away from Edinburgh, at the age of 18 to work with the police in the city. It was now almost 14 years ago and since then Lindsay hadn´t talked to her family. Her parents didn´t call once at her birthday or at Christmas and she started to get used to this. She didn´t mind anymore they had stopped being in touch and because her father often punched her when she was a child made the situation easier to her. She hated them. After she had left Stirling and had come to Edinburgh, she had taken some time to accept herself. She grew with each day she mastered her life alone.  
The car drove across a bridge and from here they could already see Blacknight Castle: It was located on a hill and Lindsay remembered Connor had told her, the castle had been built on an extinct volcano neat the ocean. The walls of Blacknight Castle were several meters high and Lindsay counted a total of four towers.  
Before they reached the old building, they had to drive through a drawbridge. They were already expected, because at the entrance to the main building, two men in black suits were waiting. After they had parked the car at one of the official parking lots, they got out.  
"Welcome to Blacknight Castle", the man with the gray mustache said to them, "My name is Windsor, I´m the castle manager. This is Nigel, our butler. If you need something, you should contact him."  
While the manager said his name Nigel lowered his head and then Connor and Jack shook hands. He looked a little shocked at the openness of the two Canadians.  
Windsor and Nigel accompanied their guests inside the castle, which was now converted into a hotel. The castle manager told them the castle was built in 1580 and the Scottish king and his family used it as a summer residence.  
"I didn´t know Scotland had its own king," Jack admitted, when Windsor opened a heavy wooden door and while Nigel was struggling alone with four large suitcases.  
"Until the year 1707 Scotland had a king. Then the country was united with the English kingdom in the Act of Union under the reign of Queen Anne."  
Connor hoped this short history lesson wouldn´t pass into an hour-long version: He already knew this and his fiancé told him that the people in Edinburgh were very proud of the King James VI, who was born there and also became King James I of England. To his relief, Windsor seemed to have nothing left for a detailed lesson and they now entered a large hall, where Nigel again grabbed their bags and they took off their raincoats.  
It was July and the weather was very bad in the south of Scotland. Lindsay was hoping it was a little better today so she could see the castle gardens, where their marriage would take place in eight weeks.  
"If you permit, I will show you the castle first," Windsor suggested and crossed the large room. The floor was tiled with a checkerboard pattern and he led her to another large wooden door, but the surface was in contrast to the castle gate, shiny and smooth. They arrived at the restaurant, which included thrown together, colorful, but very classy looking furniture and a large table. The kitchen staff had applied dinner currently. At the end of the room there was a small, burning fireplace and the smell of fresh paint was still in the air.  
They left the room through another door and passed by a narrow desk on which two computers stood. Sue could see in Jack's face he was very grateful for two Internet-enabled computers.  
An elevator took them now to the first floor of the building, which housed the hotel, while Nigel was busy stuffing their four suitcases in another, smaller lift.  
"Blacknight Castle has a total of 50 guest rooms," Windsor began, "The rest of the castle consists of monumental spaces, a library, empty stables, a gift shop and a church... Of course Nigel and I don´t care alone for the guests. There are some kitchen staff and housekeeping staff."  
"How many bookings do you have for the weekend at October 2nd? "Lindsay asked, worried, because she wanted to know if her wedding guests ever have enough rooms left.  
Windsor smiled. "Don´t worry, Miss. Your fiancé already told me on the phone how important this weekend is for you. I checked the books and you will be pleased to know that only ten rooms will be occupied this weekend."  
In Lindsay's head began to chatter: this meant she perhaps had compromising on the guest list, because many guests wanted to stay the night. But maybe there was another hotel near Blacknight Castle so they could stay there. She had to ask Windsor later.  
The elevator reached the second floor and they got out. Windsor gave them the room keys: Jack and Sue lived in room 101 and Lindsay and Connor in room 102. Then the hotel manager left them alone.  
Lindsay was surprised when she walked into her and Connor´s room: It offered views of a spacious green area and she seemed to remember Connor had told her that in daylight and clear weather she even could see the North Sea.  
"How do you like it so far?", Connor wanted to know. He took the suitcase and gave Nigel three pounds as a tip.  
"It's fine," Lindsay said and felt tthis answer seemed like a slap in the face for him. He had ruined that their wedding took place on Lothian Castle, he was very sorry and had made every effort to apologize. That she didn´t like Blacknight Castle was terrible.  
"It´s annoying: I have a dress for the wedding, but not a perfect castle."  
"That's why we're here," Connor told her. And certainly it was no intention they had "lost" Lothian Castle.  
"Aye," she sat on the bed, which was very soft. The room was kept over and over in Blue. "Although I must admit the room is very nice.": The bed was covered with blue linen, blue carpet, blue curtains, even the wall was painted blue in some places. Fortunately, in a corner of the room stood an old but well-preserved wardrobe, whose doors were decorated with plenty of frills and therefore perfectly suited to the four-poster bed. She wondered if Sue and Jack's room looked just like this so she decided to knock on their door. In addition, she was hungry. After she looked at the room, it couldn´t hurt to have dinner.  
She found that the room of her assistant was less blue and it even had a large fireplace with an expensive oil painting. "Let's go to dinner," Lindsay suggested and they went to the ground floor and then to the room, which was the restaurant. A lady of the service asked them about their room number at the entrance, they reserved a table and got their dinner.  
As they entered the restaurant for the first time, they hadn´t noticed a lot of paintings of former kings and queens of Scotland were hanging on the walls.  
"Who is the man?", Jack asked, pointing to a dark-haired man who was wearing a cap in the painting.  
"This is King James VI. of Scotland, " Lindsay told," And the woman in the picture right next to him is his wife, Margaret Tudor."  
Jack nodded. However, he admitted he wasn´t interest in the history of the kings of Scotland.  
After dinner, they went back to their rooms. The rain beat against the glass and lightning flashed. Lindsay glanced through the window and noticed she could see the castle garden in the darkness when the lightning flashed outside. The wind shook the window. She wondered if the window probably still came from the construction period of the castle and she wanted to get a complete impression of the building as fast as possible. Although she knew it was better to wait until the next morning, she decided to look at the interior of the castle more closely. She took the elevator back down to the ground floor and crossed the hall, which she already knew. At the end of the hall, she opened a massive wooden door on which hung a sign that said "Don´t take food and drinks in this room."  
She realized she had now found the castle library. There was only one entrance and the shelves were full with books over and over. Every now and then there were small signs, what kind of books was in the shelves. In the library, there was even a fireplace, in front of that was a group of wing chairs. The furniture was unoccupied, but in the firelight if looked very cozy.  
Lindsay walked past a shelf, mounted with books about the history of Scotland and she stopped when she heard a beating sound. She turned around and saw that one of the old books had fallen from the shelf. Lindsay hurried to pick up the book. It had a brown leather cover and embossed letters on the front page. She opened the book and found out the text had been written in English on the inside. The handwriting looked very legible and elegant. Some sheets slipped into her hand, which weren´t attached inside the book. Lindsay scanned the first loose side and was glad in some way the story didn´t begin with the words "Once upon a long time ago".  
"This is the story of a woman called Lindsay," she said to herself, "How nice, she was called like me," she said as she leafed through the book. She went to one of the wing chairs and sat down. Then she began to read the story of her namesake.

_My name is Lindsay Angus. I arrived at the castle today and because it´s my habit, I now will write my story. _  
_My story begins on the previous day, when I collected some mushrooms in the forest and I suddenly discovered a horse. It was a beautiful white horse and looked like a fairy from the stories of my grandmother. The horse was alone so I reached out for its reins. The horse didn´t step back and only then I noticed the saddle and bridle. Under its saddle the horse wore a blanket that had the royal coat of arms. With the basket full of mushrooms on my arm, I looked around for the owner of the white horse, but I couldn´t see anybody. I decided to bring the horse to the narrow forest trail that was very close. Perhaps the owner of the horse could be found there. _  
_I called again and again, while the animal obediently followed me and because no one answered and night came, I decided to take the horse home with me. _  
_My mother and I live alone in a small house on the edge of the forest: father died last winter, even after the blood-letting couldn´t protect his poor soul from the torments of hell. Mother always says father will burn in hell, because he was so stingy that we often had to go through a cold winter. She also says the Lord doesn´t forgive such sins. Since father died, it´s the wish of my mother that I will marry a wealthy man, so my livelihood is secured. Mother says I'm not the youngest and I can´t be choosy. Two months ago, the Duke of Rothwood came to our house and asked my mother to marry me. Of course, mother was very excited, but with his pale skin, his fiery red hair and his nose, which rather looked like a potato, I simply couldn´t agree. Perhaps I'm picky. But despite my social status, I prefer to decide on my own life. The chance came to help me, because I knew of an old vegetable seller at the market, that the Duke of Rothwood ran out of money. I wondered why he just wanted to marry me, a poor farmer's daughter, and once the old woman at the market told me the reason: "The aunt of the Duke has awarded him a substantial inheritance, my dear," she croaked, "If he doesn´t get married before he is 28 years old, his unloved brother would get all the money." _  
_I told my mother and the Duke of Rothwood became very, very mad. He rushed out of our house and my mother scolded me why I was doing this to the Duke. Mother punished me with housework, sent me every morning at sunrise to herding geese and sent me in the evening into the forest to collect mushrooms. So it happened that I met this beautiful horse. And because I couldn´t locate the owner, I took it home. Next day, I decided to take the horse to town and ask at the market, if a horse from the king's army was missing. But it shouldn´t come so far: After I took the horse out of the barn this morning, brushed its fur and put the saddle on its back again in order to ride to town, I was caught by a scout of the king. A man with long dark hair, dressed in a heavy armor, tore me to the ground and the horse took a big step to the side. My head hit hard on the ground and I remember how his black steed stopped directly in front of me, he dismounted and then dragged me to my feet. He asked me what I would think of stealing the horse of the Prince and desperately I told him the horse had found me, while another man caught the horse. That was the truth, but the man with the dirty face didn´t want to hear it. He tied my hands together, fastened a rope to the ankle and sat back on his horse. Then he dragged me behind him to a small castle called Blacknight Castle. _  
_On the way to the castle, I fell several times, but the man in the heavy armor made no move to stop his horse. Quite the contrary: He let go his horse and dragged me behind him, until at some point I managed to get back on my feet. No one of the other men who accompanied the knight helped me. They rode in silence behind us. _  
_My dress was torn when we reached the courtyard and I was just as dirty as the man in armor. I saw how the white horse was taken to the barn and I was taken in a tower. He put me in a cell and ordered the prison guards to bring me bread and water twice a day. _  
_My cell was small and there was an equally tiny window through which a little daylight came. The window, however, was so high that I couldn´t look through. The bed consisted of a thick wooden board, which was fixed at the wall with two heavy chains. There was no blanket and no pillow. _  
_I sat down on my bed for the first time and I wondered why I didn´t have left the horse in the woods. I regretted it. Also, I wondered how I could get out of this cell. The mesh walls were stable, as I could have cut straight through. And the chains on which the bed was fixed were too inflexible to stop my drama. _  
_In the evening, the door swung open and the prison guard came in. He was accompanied by a very handsome young man and they first went to an empty prison. When they realized that the cell was empty, they came to me. The loud click of the lock tore me from my thoughts. "You're free," the prison warden said to me and when I didn´t move, he came into the cell and helped me geting up. _  
_"You can go home," he repeated, pulling me by the arm to the front door. _  
_"I'm very sorry for what has happened," the dark-haired man apologized to me, "Sir Ivan is a barbarian who is in the service of my father. Please excuse that he has treated you so rudely." _  
_Slowly it dawned on me who was standing here in front of me and I clung to my dirty dress ashamed. The sludge was dried by now, but I was ashamed to meet the Prince of Scotland in this state. _  
_"It's not his fault. I shouldn´t have touched the horse." I hastened to pass him. When I reached the courtyard, the Prince had caught up with me. _  
_"Are you sure you want to go home today? It´s dark and Sir Ivan told me the trip to the castle would have taken four hours", the Prince said, "You should spend the night in the castle." _  
_"I can´t accept this." _  
_"Let me at least try to apologize for Sir Ivan's mistakes." _  
_The cold crept along on my arms and I understood he was right. So I decided to stay and he led me in a nice, large room with a four-poster bed. From there I could even see the gardens, the Prince told me. _  
_"Is there something I can do for you?", He wanted to know before he left. _  
_Even at home, I had the habit to write a diary. So I asked for a pen and paper and I could see the prince was very surprised about that. Although father had been very stingy, he wanted me to learn reading, writing and calculating. My mother hated when he put me on the back of our workhorses when I was a child because father also taught me how to ride. Father always treated me as a boy. I suppose it was because father always wanted a son. Instead, they only got me, a rebellious daughter, like mother used to call me. _  
_I found pen and paper in a drawer of a beautiful desk, which was also in my room. The prince told me I could take one of the dresses, which hung in the closet. The room and the clothes belonged to his sister, who was staying in London at the moment and wouldn´t need her belongings. Before leaving my room, I thanked him for his hospitality. After all, the prince could throw me, a poor girl, out. _  
_"Never mind," the prince smiled, "My name is Connor, by the way." _  
_"I know, Your Majesty." _  
_He seemed to be waiting for something. "And what's your name?" _  
_"Lindsay. My name is Lindsay." I was relieved when he left and wished me a good night. Now before I go to bed, I write these lines. _  
_Lindsay Angus, March 2nd 1624 _

_Before the morning came, I wanted to leave the castle, but one of the maids came and helped me to bathe in the warmest water in which I have ever sat. She also helped me to put on one of the beautiful dresses of Princess Louise, who was currently in London. I could even use the delicate perfume of the princess, which smelled like roses and jasmine. Then the maid accompanied me downstairs for breakfast, which wasn´t applied in the kitchen for me with the cooks and maids, but at the same table where the Prince dined. I assumed the prince was still feeling guilty because his bodyguard mistreated me yesterday because of his horse, but the prince shouldn´t have a guilty conscience. After all, I'm just a poor farmer's daughter. _  
_After breakfast, the prince suggested he would accompany me home and he asked me if I could ride. I nodded but I told him that he didn´t have to bring me to my mother's house. But he insisted and so he had saddled his horse and a brown horse for me. We started late in the morning and a small group of soldiers were protecting us. Prince Connor commanded them they should ride ahead and secure the way. _  
_"Well Milady, tell me who has taught you how to ride," the prince said to me. _  
_"I'm not a lady. I'm just the daughter of a poor farmer. Father was always very stingy, but he did everything to teach me how to ride." This was hopefully enough answer to his question._  
_"Where is your father yet?" _  
_"He died last winter. What about your father? ", I immediately regretted this question, because of course, King Jacob was still alive. I noticed Prince Connor, who rode his horse beside me, began to laugh softly. "What's so funny, Your Majesty?" _  
_"My father is not at Blacknight Castle at least, if you wanted to say this. King Jacob is in Edinburgh. He must... take care of business matters." That was his way of expressing that the king preferred to spend the summer in Edinburgh instead of taking care of his family. Prince Connor was already 26 years old, but as he told me later, he would like to keep the tradition and hunt in the woods with his father like every year. Prince Connor used to spend the summer on Blacknight Castle, since he was eight years old and every summer he and his father had at least hunted one deer together. This was the first time that he had to hunt alone or with his bodyguard Sir Ivan. _  
_Sir Ivan was with us all the time and I must admit I am a little afraid of him. The fact he has thrown me in prison for an alleged horse scares me. He seems like a man who acts on his own terms. Guilt and innocence don´t seem to interest him. _  
_The prince seemed to notice my uncertainty: While our horses walked side by side, he leaned over to me and promised me that Sir Ivan would never hurt me. _  
_We arrived at my mother's house after a four-hour ride. I stopped my horse in front of the fence which surrounded our house protectively and called my mother, but she didn´t respond. "Where can she be?", I asked myself, "Normally mother never leaves the house." That was true. She kept sending me to buy food or for herding geese. Sometimes I am glad we sold the fields of my father after his death, otherwise I would have to take care of this, too. _  
_I hastily entered our house and there I saw my mother lying in her bed. Her skin was deathly pale and cold. I began to look for a pulse, as the village doctor had taught me after the death of my father, but I found no heartbeat. With a strange feeling in my stomach I left the house and closed the door behind me. Prince Connor had been waiting all this time for me. "What happened?", he asked as he looked at me and I shook my head. "Nothing. She's dead."_  
_I wanted to cry and scream, but Prince Connor asked me if I wanted to come back to his castle, and the moment in which he posed the question, I could see the horror in Sir Ivan's eyes. _  
_"I don´t know..." I stuttered, and the prince took my hand. Thus, it was decided that I would come back to Blacknight Castle with him, though I actually saw it as my duty, to take care of my mother's house. _  
_Before we returned to the castle, the prince ordered his soldiers to prepare a grave for my mother and after we buried her in the afternoon, I released the geese. Then we rode back to Blacknight Castle. _  
_Lindsay Angus, March 3rd 1624 _

Lindsay woke up and saw a figure pottering around the fireplace. At second glance, she noticed it was Windsor. "Sorry, I didn´t want to wake you," he said to her and put away a broom with which he had returned the ashes in the fireplace.  
"No, um...", she sat up in the chair, "What time is it?"  
Windsor glanced at his watch. "Another half hour until midnight."  
"I fell asleep," she noted and took her feet off the stool and Windsor seemed to suspect in what book she had read.  
"...You have found the chronicle of the castle."  
"There are some pages on which a woman named Lindsay wrote her diary."  
"Well, the story of the princess is sometimes a little uninteresting."  
"Did you say, Princess?", she tried not to sound too surprised.  
"Aye. The princess herself wrote it, so be careful with the book: It's a very, very old book and there is no copy. Moreover, it´s a rarity that the story was written by the princess herself: very few women in her lifetime were able to write and read."  
"I should go back to my room," she said, getting up. Windsor agreed to her and told her that her fiancé had ordered a bottle of wine two hours ago. Lindsay thanked him for pointing this out and left le library with the book under her arm. She assumed it was fine if she would borrow the book, at least she didn´t intend to steal the antique piece. Windsor also had made no attempt to stop her.  
On the way to her room, Lindsay went back into the restaurant, which was housed in Blacknight Castle. She found the light switch right away and then looked for the painting of Prince Connor of Scotland. It took a while, until she found the picture: It was hanging at the end of the gallery. Under the picture was a small brass plaque on which stood when the Prince had lived. On the board, he was named King Connor I. of Scotland, who lived from 1598 to 1640 and was a great-great-grandson of King James VI. of Scotland who ruled from 1625 until his death. She was cold when she saw how similar King Connor and her fiancé looked like: They both had the same dark hair and the same facial features. She couldn´t recognize the eyes of the king in the painting: It just hung too high, as she could see his eye color.  
Lindsay heard a clatter, which definitely came from the kitchen. She assumed that the kitchen staff was still busy cleaning up. So she decided to leave the restaurant. She got into the elevator, went to the first floor and opened her bedroom door with her key. "Hi," she greeted Connor. He lay on the bed and watched television. After their arrival, Lindsay hadn´t even noticed there was a TV and as she realized now this was hidden in an antique cabinet. Connor was watching a BBC documentary about the making of space.  
"I'm sorry that I was gone for so long. I found a book and fell asleep while reading, "she patted the old leather binding of the book.  
"Don´t worry. I'm glad we have a TV in these old walls." The castle was 430 years old and when Connor had read this on the Internet, he expected everything.  
She then added the book told the story of a woman named Lindsay, and she flipped through the pages.  
"She looks just like you," Connor stated, as he flipped through the old, yellowed pages as well and discovered a painting. The picture wasn´t integrated into the book, but had been made on a loose sheet of paper, which was placed between the pages.  
"Do you think it´s her?", Lindsay looked at him aghast. The young woman in the picture almost looked like her. Her hair was a little longer, but it was as blond and bright as her own. In the painting, the princess wore a dark red dress, which made her skin shining.  
"Look, down here in the corner of the painting: Princess Lindsay, painted by Sir Lawrence Bowman on March 16th in 1624."  
"That's strange... I've never heard of a princess Lindsay."  
"Perhaps you are not so well informed about your country as you think," he grinned, but Lindsay wasn´t willing to take on his game. Then she remembered the bottle of wine.  
"Windsor told me you ordered a bottle of wine...", her eyes fell to the tray on which the bottle stood.  
"Yes, but doesn´t matter... Tomorrow I will show you how sorry I am about Lothian Castle."  
"You don´t have to, I know that." The longer she was on Blacknight Castle, the more she seemed to get used to the fact that their weeding took place here. There was no need to be worried, that she didn´t want to marry him. She loved him. Being with him, made her so happy like no other person before. And even if he had ruined the wedding at Lothian Castle, she was willing to forgive him. It could be worse, she thought. At least Connor was no secret serial killer or leading a double life and had a second family in another city.  
She smiled, gave him a kiss and then went to the adjoining bathroom to get ready for bed. When she returned, Connor slept, but she switched on the reading lamp and began to read on the written story.

_I live at Blacknight Castle for one month and my days are filled with happiness. The prince fell in love with me, he told me yesterday evening. Yesterday we were riding out together and secretly sneaked out of the castle. While our horses galloped hastily through the forest, he told me that Sir Ivan hated if he rode alone through the woods. Indeed, Sir Ivan was everywhere, where the prince was staying. His penetrating gaze always scars me. When he looks at me, I feel as if he wanted to turn over a big lie. I believe that Sir Ivan thinks, I only spend my time with Prince Connor because I want to be queen, but I don´t. The prince is the one who invites me for breakfast each morning, who persuades me to ride out with him and teaches me dancing in the evening. _  
_Prince Connor has a friend named Sir Alexander Thomas, a highly educated man. He is a very polite man and I appreciate him very much. At least Sir Thomas doesn´t demonize me because of my middle-class background. _  
_The Prince and I stopped our horses in a clearing and tied them to two trees. Then he helped me to climb a narrow stairway down to the beach. "Have you ever been at the sea?", he asked me. Our relationship had changed a lot in the last four weeks. There has never been a man with whom I could talk about my heart so honestly. _  
_"I've never been to the sea," I said, breathing in deeply the salty smell of the air, "It's very nice here. But why did we have to ride so far away this time?" _  
_"Because I need to talk to you urgently," he began, "I told you my father wants that I marry the princess of Norway." _  
_"And?" I didn´t understand why that suddenly became a problem. In the past he had talked several times about it and when I first heard this, the confession tore my heart apart and I thought to myself I would never have a chance. I realized the prince only invited me at Blacknight Castle, because he still felt guilty I haven´t been with my mother when she died. Perhaps he felt responsible, I resigned myself and decided I might work as a scullery maid in the castle when the prince returned to Edinburgh, and would marry the Princess of Norway there. _  
_"I won´t marry Princess Margaret," he said with a firm confident voice, "I´ll marry you." _  
_"What?", I was dizzy, "But what is King Jacob saying about this?" The educated Sir Thomas has told me several times without bad background, how much King Jacob wanted a perfect, royal wife for his son. _  
_"I'm not the right one for you," I said to him, "I think your father is right. You should marry the Princess of Norway." _  
_"I won´t. I´ll marry you or anyone else. If my father wants that the Kingdom of Scotland gets an heir, he will have to agree." _  
_"You seem to forget your sister also has a right to the crown... He would never accept a poor girl like me by your side." I walked up and down the beach restlessly where he had brought me to._  
_"The king will never know about this," he decided, "Yesterday I sent a messenger to Edinburgh Castle, telling the king that the beautiful princess Lindsay is a guest in our summer home and that I want to marry the princess." _  
_He made a princess out of me without asking me first. Before I could open my mouth to contradict, he took my hand and asked me if I wanted to be his wife. He knew exactly I felt like he did and I nodded in agreement. He pulled me close and kissed my temple and promised me that everything would be fine. _  
_Lindsay Angus, April 4th 1624 _

_I wait almost daily for bad news from Edinburgh. I'm waiting that King Jacob writes to us we shouldn´t get married. The more time passes, the more I fall in love with the prince. The whole castle already knows: Yesterday I heard two wash women talking about that watchman had seen well after midnight when Prince Connor snuck out of my room. _  
_This morning the messenger finally came back from Edinburgh. He brought my fiancé a letter, which said that the King wouldn´t tolerate our relationship and that Prince Connor should marry the Princess of Norway, if he wanted to avoid a war. Connor said he doesn´t care. He crumpled the letter and threw it into the fire. _  
_A maid then asked me when she brought me my lunch, if I feel relieved that Sir Ivan was back in the castle. "Where's he been?", I admit I haven´t noticed in my infatuation with Prince Connor that Sir Ivan was a few days away. The maid reported her sister worked in a House of Pleasure, which is regularly visited by Sir Ivan and some knights and her sister had reported that the King was very angry about the latest developments at Blackmight Castle. What developments he meant, he wouldn´t have told to the prostitute, but I can guess what Sir Ivan meant: He must have told the king that I am not a real princess. _  
_As I sit here in my room, my beloved fiancé writes a letter to the king, that our wedding will take place in late July and he never thinks about to marry the princes of Norway. He could accept it or not. And when it was his father´s wish, Connor even was able to live without the crown. _  
_Lindsay Angus April 15th 1624 _

Next morning she sat in a bathtub and while she was trying to enjoy her bubble bath, she gazed thoughtfully at the wall. Connor came in and saw her absent expression. He sat on the edge of the bathtub. "What's wrong?", he asked, "We´ll meet Jack and Sue in 30 minutes for breakfast and then we will see the castle gardens. The weather has become better."  
"Nice," was her only comment.  
"Is it about the story you have read?"  
"How'd you know that?", she looked at him and put her head once again on the edge of the tub. She felt too tired.  
"I've read the book, too... There´s also a prince in the story named Connor. I think at that time it was a very modern name", he told her and Lindsay sighed: "I can´ believe the story ends so abruptly."  
"I don´t either. That´s why I asked Windsor if there are more records of the Princess ", a grin lit up his face when he showed her a new book, "Windsor told me there´s a second book. I went to the library and got it."  
She was surprised and wanted to sit up and embrace him with thanks, but at that moment the water began to splash, he jumped off the edge of the tub and went away hastily. "Don´t! I don´t want to pay for the restoration of this book. This will be expensive."  
"All right. Then I'll hug you later, "she leaned back in the water and watched as Connor once again sat on the edge of the bathtub. He opened the book and began to read. The last pages of the story were written in a different handwriting and the author, a certain Sir Alexander Thomas, was at least honest and admitted he noted the last days of the princess.

_The king has commanded me that I should write about the last days of the princess. King Connor is always a good and loyal friend to me. We know since childhood and when my father died, the then King Jacob did everything to help my mother, my three sisters and me. So I came into the civil service and I swore to be a good friend to the Prince. According to my information, the diary entries of the princess ended in April 1624. Meanwhile, it´s July. _  
_Two weeks ago, the princess began to feel sick every morning and the prince ordered to send a doctor. The doctor noted the princess was pregnant. Prince Connor was delighted and as the good news had made rounds in the castle, Sir Ivan one night left the castle by horse on the way to Edinburgh to inform King Jacob. Of course I didn´t see him riding away personally: A boy, who should take care of the royal steeds that night, has told me afterwards. What happened in Edinburgh, I can only imagine. As I explained earlier, I did my service for many, many years in the Scottish royal family. In these cultured classes, it was a scandal when a royal child wasn´t born in a marriage. Even when the prince and princess were planning to get married in a few months, the child would remain a bastard in the eyes of King Jacob always and he would never accept the child as future kind or queen of Scotland. I assume that King Jacob and Sir Ivan, as he delivered the news from Blacknight Castle, had developed a plan on how they could get rid of the princess and her unborn child. _  
_Sir Ivan returned at Blacknight Castle three days later and on the evening of his arrival there was a festival in honor of the princess. The princess arrived a little later at this evening, where some representatives from the Scottish Parliament were invited and Prince Connor suggested to his fiancé previously to show up later. He told her she was, after all, the future Queen of Scotland and could afford it. In addition, Princess Lindsay was already very popular among the people. The prince once said, Princess Lindsay was an angel which came from heaven only to please him._  
_The princess agreed, and when all the guests were already sitting at their tables, her graceful figure appeared at the top of the stairs that led to the throne room. I was also among the guests. The princess has been announced, but at that moment I saw a movement behind a thick wall carpet, the princess stumbled and fell down the entire stairs. The guests were shocked and the prince hurried to his fiancée. The festival was canceled and the doctor ordered the princess bed rest. In the same night the princess lost her child. _  
_I wanted to find out if the fall of the princess was really an accident and I decided to check the tapestry more closely. I pushed the thick yarn aside and saw a big hole in the wall. It was so huge that a man could hide in it without difficulty. The hole led to a corridor and when I walked down this corridor with a candle in my hand, I realized the corridor led me out of the building to a secluded corner of the courtyard, where the cause of this accident was able to escape easily I went to the Prince to tell him about it. He sat on the bed of his future wife, holding her hand. She was crying and kept saying that it was her fault. In this situation, I didn´t disturb the two, so I'd tell the prince the next day. _

_One day later, a messenger arrived with a message from Edinburgh. The doctor of the king wrote that King James was dying and he wanted to see his son one last time. Prince Connor discussed the request of his father with his fiancé. "You have to travel to Edinburgh," the princess said to him, "Don´t worry. Everybody takes care of me very well." _  
_"Are you sure?", the prince wanted to know worried and the princess nodded. _  
_"Fulfill your father´s last wish", was all what she asked. Prince Connor thanked for the understanding of his beloved wife and kissed her forehead. I was with the Princess when both said goodbye and I could see how difficult it was for my old friend to leave his fiancé alone, who had lost her baby yesterday. But she was already a queen through and through. _  
_Prince Connor left the castle with a small group of knights. _  
_What happened then was just my guess: I think Sir Ivan somehow sneaked into in the room of the sleeping princess at night and placed a glass with a poisoned drink on her bedside table. The Princess woke up and drank it. The maid who wanted to bring the breakfast next morning noticed that something was wrong. The maid tried to wake the princess and when she didn´t respond, she asked the doctor and myself for help. The doctor could only find the death of Princess Lindsay. I asked the doctor how this could be and that's when I discovered the glass on the bedside table of the princess. I knew it because I had already seen Sir Ivan drinking several times from the chalice decorated with diamonds. Immediately, I had an idea, and when I was in an unguarded moment I crept in Sir Ivan´s chamber where I discovered a box with wild herbs. My mother, God forbid, wasn´t a witch, but I recognize poisonous herbs, when I see them. _  
_Prince Connor returned to Blacknight Castle four days later as the new king of Scotland. Sometimes, I think to myself, King Jacob got through his death exactly what he deserved. I don´t know if his illness, which began at the moment when Princess Lindsay had needed the presence of her future husband at the most, was just by chance,. _  
_King Connor asked about his fiancé, as he dismounted from his horse in the courtyard, and as his oldest friend, it was my duty to tell him about the death of his beloved wife. I apologized, because we hadn´t sent a messenger to Edinburgh, but he already rushed past me and ran into the chamber of the princess which was just empty. He asked the doctor how this happened and I told them about the poisonous herbs, which I found in Sir Ivan's chamber. I also talked about the hole behind the tapestry and the corridor leading to the outside and I told the king that I thought the fall of the princess wasn´t an accident. _  
_Then the king became so angry that he ordered his guards to arrest Sir Ivan and of course Sir Ivan denied everything. In rage King Connor ordered to cut off Sir Ivan´s hands and before the man lost his hands he told everything: He admitted he killed the woman that was the future mother to an heir to the Scottish crown at King Jacob's command, because the king didn´t want to have a farmer's daughter in the family. But it was too late: King Connor threw Ivan´s left hand to the hungry of the soldiers´ dogs, Sir Ivan's right hand was encased in cement. Sir Ivan was judged to spend the rest of his life in prison. _  
_Then King Connor returned back to Edinburgh with his followers. He would never return to Blacknight Castle. Only a few cooks, a castle administrator and some of the soldiers stayed to keep an eye on Sir Ivan in prison. _  
_I followed my friend to Edinburgh, but since the king's sweetheart had died, I never again saw him happy. _  
_Sir Alexander Thomas, July 10th 1624_

Another letter had been added to the records of Sir Thomas almost two years:

_Sir Thomas, _  
_I must tell you and the king that Sir Ivan died last night at Blacknight Castle on a smallpox infection. _  
_Duncan MacLean, Administration_  
_July 10th, 1626_

"I did some research on the internet about this King Connor," Connor told Lindsay, when he closed the book, "He never got married and when he died, his niece Victoria II became queen of Scotland."  
Lindsay had finished her bath long ago and was already dressed to meet Sue and Jack for watching the castle garden. They made their way to the ground floor of the castle. Sue opened the door and stepped outside. "I'm coming after you a little later, okay?," Lindsay said to her when she heard Windsor´s voice. She hastened to the man and wished him a good morning.  
"Good morning, Miss. Can I help you somehow?"  
"Yes, I have heard about the hand of Sir Ivan, which will be exhibited at the castle," she restlessly reached for her engagement ring, "Can you tell me where I can find this hand?"  
"Yes, come with me," Windsor led her to a separate room. He had to operate a light switch, before they could enter. The cast hand was in the middle of the room whose floor was tiled in a grid pattern and Windsor told her the hand was now known as "The Black Hand". He also reported in the past some hotel guests had seen a restless ghost of a young woman walking around and some other guests had seen the ghost of a man with no hands. Windsor of course knew the story of the princess, but he didn´t believe in ghosts. Windsor thought it was very likely the people had read the story of the Princess and then only imagined the ghosts. "However, it's funny that the ghosts appear only on days around July 6th," Windsor admitted and smiled. Lindsay also didn´t believe in ghosts. She stepped closer to the glass box in which the cast hand of Sir Ivan was preserved, when they heard a scream that came out of the floor and thus out of one of the guest rooms.


End file.
